2019 National Union Membership Down From Prior Year

In 2019, the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions–the union membership rate–was 10.3 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point from 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday.

The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.6 million in 2019, was little changed from 2018. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union workers.

The data on union membership are collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. For more information, see the Technical Notes in this news release.

Highlights from the 2019 data:

• The union membership rate of public-sector workers (33.6 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (6.2 percent).

• The highest unionization rates were among workers in protective service occupations (33.8 percent) and in education, training, and library occupations (33.1 percent).

• Men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.8 percent) than women (9.7 percent).

• Black workers remained more likely to be union members than White, Asian, or Hispanic workers.

• Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 81 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($892 versus $1,095). (The comparisons of earnings in this release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences.)

• Among states, Hawaii and New York had the highest union membership rates (23.5 percent and 21.0 percent, respectively), while South Carolina and North Carolina had the lowest (2.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively).

Industry and Occupation of Union Members

In 2019, 7.1 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union, compared with 7.5 million workers in the private sector. The union membership rate declined over the year in the private sector by 0.2 percentage point to 6.2 percent.

The unionization rate for public-sector workers was little changed over the year at 33.6 percent, and remained substantially above that of the private sector.

Within the public sector, the union membership rate was highest in local government (39.4 percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

Private-sector industries with high unionization rates included utilities (23.4 percent), transportation and warehousing (16.1 percent), and telecommunications (14.1 percent).

Low unionization rates occurred in finance (1.1 percent), insurance (1.4 percent), professional and technical services (1.4 percent), and food services and drinking places (1.4 percent).

Among occupational groups, the highest unionization rates in 2019 were in protective service occupations (33.8 percent) and in education, training, and library occupations (33.1 percent).

Unionization rates were lowest in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (2.1 percent); sales and related occupations (2.8 percent); and food preparation and serving related occupations (3.5 percent).

Selected Characteristics of Union Members

In 2019, the union membership rate for men declined by 0.3 percentage point to 10.8 percent, and the rate for women was down by 0.2 point to 9.7 percent.

The gap between their rates has narrowed considerably since 1983 (the earliest year for which comparable data are available), when rates for men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively.

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2019 (11.2 percent) than workers who were White (10.3 percent), Asian (8.8 percent), or Hispanic (8.9 percent).

However, the union membership rate for Black workers declined by 1.3 percentage points over the year, while the rates for other race and ethnicity groups changed little.

By age, union membership rates continued to be highest among workers ages 45 to 64. In 2019, 12.6 percent of workers ages 45 to 54 and 12.7 percent of those ages 55 to 64 were union members.

Over the year, the union membership rate for workers ages 45 to 54 was little changed, while the rate for those ages 55 to 64 declined by 0.6 percentage point.

In 2019, the union membership rate for full-time workers (11.2 percent) was about twice the rate for part-time workers.

Union Representation

In 2019, 16.4 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, little changed from 2018. The percentage of workers represented by a union was 11.6 percent, a slight decrease from 11.7 percent in 2018.

Workers represented by a union include both union members (14.6 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.8 million).

Earnings

Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $1,095 in 2019, while those who were not union members had median weekly earnings of $892.

In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences reflect a variety of influences, including variations in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, age, firm size, or geographic region.

Union Membership by State

In 2019, 28 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 10.3 percent, while 21 states had rates above it and 1 state had the same rate.

All states in both the East South Central and West South-Central divisions had union membership rates below the national average, while all states in both the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions had rates above it.

Eight states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2019. South Carolina and North Carolina had the lowest rates (2.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively).

The next lowest rates were in Texas and Virginia (4.0 percent each). Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2019: Hawaii (23.5 percent) and New York (21.0 percent).

Over half of the 14.6 million union members in the U.S. lived in just seven states (California, 2.5 million; New York, 1.7 million; Illinois, 0.8 million; Pennsylvania, 0.7 million; and New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington, 0.6 million each), though these states accounted for only about one-third of wage and salary employment nationally.

• Table 1. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by selected characteristics
• Table 2. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by union affiliation and selected characteristics
• Table 3. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry
• Table 4. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by union affiliation, occupation, and industry
• Table 5. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state
• Access to historical data for the tables of the Union Membership News Release

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics