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Union Membership Historical Table for Illinois

Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers, Illinois, annual averages, 1989–2023 (numbers in thousands)
Year Total
employed
Members of unions (1) Represented by unions (2)
Total Percent of
employed
Total Percent of
employed

1989

5,015 1,045 20.8 1,145 22.8

1990

4,990 1,038 20.8 1,133 22.7

1991

4,950 1,035 20.9 1,117 22.6

1992

4,987 1,018 20.4 1,089 21.8

1993

4,980 1,046 21.0 1,118 22.5

1994

1995

5,167 1,042 20.2 1,095 21.2

1996

5,224 1,043 20.0 1,125 21.5

1997

5,234 971 18.5 1,041 19.9

1998

5,328 1,004 18.9 1,064 20.0

1999

5,514 993 18.0 1,054 19.1

2000

5,726 1,049 18.3 1,107 19.3

2001

5,610 1,013 18.1 1,082 19.3

2002

5,445 1,069 19.6 1,119 20.6

2003

5,399 967 17.9 1,003 18.6

2004

5,410 908 16.8 971 17.9

2005

5,473 927 16.9 965 17.6

2006

5,684 931 16.4 979 17.2

2007

5,802 842 14.5 884 15.2

2008

5,662 939 16.6 993 17.5

2009

5,435 951 17.5 997 18.3

2010

5,434 844 15.5 891 16.4

2011

5,408 876 16.2 929 17.2

2012

5,486 801 14.6 852 15.5

2013

5,397 851 15.8 882 16.3

2014

5,500 831 15.1 880 16.0

2015

5,566 847 15.2 892 16.0

2016

5,587 812 14.5 856 15.3

2017

5,516 827 15.0 872 15.8

2018

5,694 786 13.8 839 14.7

2019

5,658 771 13.6 832 14.7

2020

5,178 739 14.3 788 15.2

2021

5,397 752 13.9 818 15.2

2022

5,611 735 13.1 789 14.1

2023

5,537 708 12.8 755 13.6

Footnotes:
(1) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
(2) Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Note: Data refer to the sole or principal job of full- and part-time wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.
(—) Dashes indicate data not available.
Source: Current Population Survey
The current population survey is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.