January 24, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Union membership in government, 2001

The unionization rate of government workers was 37.4 percent in 2001, compared with 9.0 percent among private sector employees.

Union membership of government workers, 2001
[Chart data—TXT]

Union membership rates of government employees have held steady since 1983, while those of private nonagricultural employees have declined. Local government, which includes many workers in the heavily unionized occupations of teachers, firefighters, and police officers, had the highest unionization rate in 2001, at 43.1 percent.

These 2001 data on union membership are from the Current Population Survey. Unionization data are for wage and salary workers. Find out more in "Union Members in 2001," news release USDL 02-28.

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