Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Why This Counts: What Do We Know about Strikes and Lockouts?

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Strikes and lockouts? Aren’t those 1940s-50s-60s economic activities? Sounds like we are taking a trip to the distant past with Sherman and Mr. Peabody in the WABAC machine. (For you younger readers, these characters can be found in the Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, a TV show from the early 1960s.) BLS first collected data on labor and management disputes (work stoppages) in the 1880s. BLS has continuously published work stoppage information since 1947, for events covering at least 1,000 workers. Recently, high profile work stoppages by public school teachers and others have kept these types of activities in the news.

What are work stoppages?

The work stoppages program provides monthly and annual data on major work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers and lasting one full shift or longer. For this report, BLS does not differentiate between strikes and lockouts.

  • Strikes are a temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees to express a grievance, enforce a demand, or protest the terms, conditions, or provisions of a contract.
  • Lockouts are a temporary denial of employment by management.

Detailed monthly reports from 1993 to the present provide the organizations and unions involved, along with the locations, industries, number of workers directly involved, and days of idleness.

Who uses these data?

Work stoppages provide media, researchers, labor relations specialists, unions, and government agencies with information about labor-management disputes. While the work stoppages program does not report on the nature of the dispute, identifying the details of parties involved helps users assess the impact of compensation trends, union membership and activity, and legislation.

Has work stoppage activity changed over time?

Since BLS began reporting on work stoppages, declines in union membership, the growth of the service industry, technological changes, and other factors have led to a significant reduction in the number of work stoppages. Between 1947 and 1956, there were 3,438 work stoppages. In the decade from 2007 to 2016, there were 143 stoppages. In 2017, there were 7 work stoppages, and in 2018 there were 20.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Decreases in the number of work stoppages and the number of workers involved are especially noticeable during recessions. These levels reached an all-time low at the end of the 2007–09 recession. In 1952, there were 2,746,000 workers involved in work stoppages, whereas in 2018 there were 485,000 workers involved.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Another way to evaluate the impact of work stoppages on the national economy is by looking at the number of days workers are away from work because of strikes or lockouts. The number of days of idleness reached a peak in 1959, at about 60,850,000 days. The second largest number was in 1970, with 52,761,000 of days of idleness. In 2018, there were 2,815,400 days of idleness. 

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Where are work stoppages most prevalent?

Of the 559 major work stoppages between 1993 and 2018, 423 occurred in private industry, 95 in local government, 40 in state government, and 1 in both state and local government. Most stoppages during that period, 458, occurred within individual states, while 101 occurred in two or more states. California, the state with the largest share of national employment (13.6 percent), had the largest share of work stoppages, 24.2 percent. Texas, which accounts for 9.6 percent of national employment, accounted for 2.9 percent of all work stoppages (excluding interstate and nationally reported stoppages).

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

These data also allow users to evaluate differences in the number of work stoppages by industry. From 1993 to 2018, there were almost as many stoppages in manufacturing (158) as the next two industries combined. Health care and social assistance had 83 work stoppages, while educational services had 79 work stoppages. Of the 79 educational services stoppages, 75 were in state and local government, with 50 occurring in local government and 25 in state government.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Want to know more?

We hope this discussion of work stoppages and a look to the past was almost as good as using the WABAC machine!

Number of work stoppages by decade
DecadeNumber
1947–19563,438
1957– 19662,500
1967–19763,321
1977–19861,446
1987–1996404
1997–2006240
2007–2016140
Annual work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers, 1947–2018
YearNumber of work stoppagesNumber of workers involvedNumber of days idle
19472701,629,00025,720,000
19482451,435,00026,127,000
19492622,537,00043,420,000
19504241,698,00030,390,000
19514151,462,00015,070,000
19524702,746,00048,820,000
19534371,623,00018,130,000
19542651,075,00016,630,000
19553632,055,00021,180,000
19562871,370,00026,840,000
1957279887,00010,340,000
19583321,587,00017,900,000
19592451,381,00060,850,000
1960222896,00013,260,000
19611951,031,00010,140,000
1962211793,00011,760,000
1963181512,00010,020,000
19642461,183,00016,220,000
1965268999,00015,140,000
19663211,300,00016,000,000
19673812,192,00031,320,000
19683921,855,00035,367,000
19694121,576,00029,397,000
19703812,468,00052,761,000
19712982,516,00035,538,000
1972250975,00016,764,000
19733171,400,00016,260,000
19744241,796,00031,809,000
1975235965,00017,563,000
19762311,519,00023,962,000
19772981,212,00021,258,000
19782191,006,00023,774,000
19792351,021,00020,409,000
1980187795,00020,844,000
1981145729,00016,908,000
198296656,0009,061,000
198381909,00017,461,000
198462376,0008,499,000
198554324,0007,079,000
198669533,00011,861,000
198746174,0004,481,000
198840118,0004,381,000
198951452,00016,996,000
199044185,0005,926,000
199140392,0004,584,000
199235364,0003,989,000
199335182,0003,981,000
199445322,0005,021,000
199531192,0005,771,000
199637273,0004,889,000
199729339,0004,497,000
199834387,0005,116,000
19991773,0001,996,000
200039394,00020,419,000
20012999,0001,151,000
20021946,000659,600
200314129,2004,091,200
200417170,7003,344,100
20052299,6001,736,100
20062070,1002,687,500
200721189,2001,264,800
20081572,2001,954,100
2009512,500124,100
20101144,500302,300
201119112,5001,020,200
201219148,1001,130,800
20131554,500289,900
20141134,300200,200
20151247,300740,000
20161599,4001,543,400
2017725,300439,800
201820485,2002,815,400
Share of national employment and share of major work stoppages by state, 1993–2018
StateShare of national employmentShare of major work stoppages
California13.6%24.2%
Texas9.62.9
New York6.78.8
Florida7.10.7
Pennsylvania4.48.1
Illinois4.49.1
Ohio4.07.5
Georgia3.51.3
Michigan3.46.3
North Carolina3.41.1
New Jersey3.13.8
Number of major work stoppages by industry, 1993–2018
IndustryNumber of stoppages
Manufacturing158
Health care and social assistance83
Educational services79
Construction61
Transportation and warehousing54
Public administration23
Retail Trade22
Information20
Utilities14
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services12
Accomodation and food services10
Mining8
Wholesale trade4
Finance and insurance4
Real estate and rental and leasin3
Professional, scientific, and technical services2
Arts, entertainment, and recreation2