February 03, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Union membership by state, 2008

In 2008, 29 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 12.4 percent, while 20 states had higher rates, and 1 state had the same rate.

Union membership of wage and salary workers, selected States, 2008
[Chart data—TXT]

Six states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2008, with North Carolina having the lowest rate (3.5 percent). The next lowest rates were recorded in Georgia (3.7 percent), South Carolina (3.9 percent), Virginia (4.1 percent), Texas (4.5 percent), and Louisiana (4.6 percent).

Three states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2008—New York (24.9 percent), Hawaii (24.3 percent), and Alaska (23.5 percent).

These 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 2008" (PDF) (HTML) news release 09-0095.

 

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