Union Members Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, January 28, 2025		                       USDL-25-0105

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                              UNION MEMBERS -- 2024


The union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of 
unions--was 9.9 percent in 2024, little changed from the prior year, the U.S. Bureau 
of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging 
to unions, at 14.3 million, also showed little movement over the year. In 1983, the 
first year for which comparable data are available, the union membership rate was 
20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union members. 

These 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 further information, see the Technical Note in this 
news release.

Highlights from the 2024 data:

 --The union membership rate of public-sector workers (32.2 percent) continued to be 
   more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (5.9 percent). 
   (See table 3.)

 --The highest unionization rates were among workers in education, training, and 
   library occupations (32.3 percent) and protective service occupations (29.6 percent). 
   (See table 3.)

 --Men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.2 percent) than women 
   (9.5 percent). (See table 1.)

 --Black workers remained more likely to be union members than White, Asian, and 
   Hispanic workers. (See table 1.)

 --Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 85 percent of earnings for 
   workers who were union members ($1,138 versus $1,337). (The comparisons of earnings 
   in this news release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that 
   can be important in explaining earnings differences.) (See table 2.)

 --Among states, Hawaii and New York had the highest union membership rates (26.5 
   percent and 20.6 percent, respectively), while the lowest rates were in North 
   Carolina (2.4 percent), South Dakota (2.7 percent), and South Carolina (2.8 percent).
   (See table 5.)

Industry and Occupation of Union Members

In 2024, the number of employees who belonged to unions was similar in the public 
sector (7.0 million) and the private sector (7.2 million). The number of private-sector 
union members declined by 184,000 in 2024, offsetting the increase in 2023. The number 
of public-sector union members changed little in 2024. (See table 3.)

The public-sector union membership rate, at 32.2 percent, also changed little over the
year. The union membership rate continued to be highest in local government (38.2 
percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police 
officers, firefighters, and teachers.

The union membership rate in the private sector declined by 0.1 percentage point over 
the year to 5.9 percent. Industries with the highest unionization rates in 2024 included 
utilities (18.7 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.8 percent), and educational 
services (13.2 percent). The lowest unionization rates occurred in finance (0.8 percent), 
insurance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.2 percent), agricultural 
and related industries (1.4 percent), and food services and drinking places (1.6 percent). 

Among occupational groups, the highest union membership rates in 2024 were in education,
training, and library occupations (32.3 percent), protective service occupations (29.6 
percent), and construction and extraction occupations (15.4 percent). Membership rates were
lowest in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (1.5 percent) and in sales and related 
occupations (2.7 percent). 

Selected Characteristics of Union Members

In 2024, the unionization rate for women was unchanged over the year at 9.5 percent, and 
the number of women who were union members changed little at 6.6 million. Meanwhile, the 
unionization rate for men declined by 0.3 percentage point to 10.2 percent, and the number 
of men who were union members declined by 216,000 to 7.6 million. The gap between union 
membership rates for men and women has narrowed considerably since 1983, when rates for 
men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. (See table 1.)

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union
membership rate in 2024 (11.8 percent) than White workers (9.6 percent), Asian workers 
(8.5 percent), and Hispanic workers (8.5 percent). Over the year, the union membership rate
was unchanged for Black workers, while it declined for White (-0.2 percentage point) and
Hispanic (-0.5 percentage point) workers. The rate increased by 0.7 percentage point for 
Asian workers.

By age, workers ages 45 to 54 had the highest union membership rate in 2024, at 12.6 percent.
Younger workers--those ages 16 to 24--had the lowest union membership rate, at 4.3 percent.

In 2024, the union membership rate continued to be higher for full-time workers (10.7 percent)
than for part-time workers (5.7 percent). Over the year, the rate for full-time workers 
declined by 0.2 percentage point, while the rate for part-time workers increased by 0.5 
percentage point. 

Union Representation

In 2024, 16.0 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, little changed 
from 2023. The percentage of workers represented by a union was 11.1 percent in 2024, also 
little different than a year earlier. Workers represented by a union include both union 
members (14.3 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are 
covered by a union contract (1.8 million). (See table 1.)

Earnings

Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings 
of $1,337 in 2024, while nonunion workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,138. 
In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences 
reflect a variety of factors, including variations in the distributions of union members 
and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, age, firm size, or geographic region.
(See tables 2 and 4.)

Union Membership by State

In 2024, 30 states had union membership rates below the U.S. average (9.9 percent), 
while 20 states and the District of Columbia had rates above it. 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. (See table 5.)

Ten states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2024. North Carolina had the 
lowest rate (2.4 percent). The next lowest rates were in South Dakota and South Carolina
(2.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively). Two states had union membership rates over 
20.0 percent in 2024: Hawaii (26.5 percent) and New York (20.6 percent).

In 2024, about 29 percent of the 14.3 million union members lived in just two states 
(California at 2.4 million and New York at 1.7 million). However, these two states 
accounted for 17 percent of wage and salary employment nationally.