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The union membership rate—the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—was 11.1 percent in 2015, unchanged from 2014. In 2015, 7.2 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union, compared with 7.6 million workers in the private sector. The union membership rate for public-sector workers (35.2 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private-sector workers (6.7 percent).
Year | Total private | Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting | Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | Construction | Manufacturing | Wholesale trade | Retail trade | Transportation and warehousing | Utilities | Information |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 |
9.0 | 2.6 | 11.3 | 17.5 | 14.9 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 25.7 | 27.2 | 14.7 |
2001 |
8.9 | 2.8 | 11.5 | 16.9 | 14.7 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 25.0 | 26.7 | 14.1 |
2002 |
8.6 | 2.8 | 8.7 | 16.7 | 14.6 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 24.6 | 25.4 | 14.6 |
2003 |
8.2 | 1.6 | 9.1 | 16.0 | 13.5 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 25.8 | 28.2 | 13.6 |
2004 |
7.9 | 2.2 | 11.4 | 14.7 | 12.9 | 4.6 | 5.7 | 24.2 | 28.4 | 14.2 |
2005 |
7.8 | 2.7 | 8.0 | 13.1 | 13.0 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 23.4 | 27.4 | 13.6 |
2006 |
7.4 | 2.3 | 7.5 | 13.0 | 11.7 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 22.2 | 28.2 | 12.0 |
2007 |
7.5 | 1.5 | 9.3 | 13.9 | 11.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 20.9 | 28.4 | 12.1 |
2008 |
7.6 | 2.8 | 6.9 | 15.6 | 11.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 21.3 | 26.9 | 12.7 |
2009 |
7.2 | 1.1 | 8.6 | 14.5 | 10.9 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 21.3 | 26.1 | 10.0 |
2010 |
6.9 | 1.6 | 8.0 | 13.1 | 10.7 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 20.5 | 28.3 | 9.6 |
2011 |
6.9 | 1.4 | 7.2 | 14.0 | 10.5 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 20.4 | 25.0 | 10.1 |
2012 |
6.6 | 1.4 | 7.2 | 13.2 | 9.6 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 19.9 | 24.7 | 9.7 |
2013 |
6.7 | 1.0 | 5.4 | 14.1 | 10.1 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 19.6 | 25.6 | 8.9 |
2014 |
6.6 | 1.1 | 4.8 | 13.9 | 9.7 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 19.6 | 22.3 | 8.6 |
2015 |
6.7 | 1.2 | 5.4 | 13.2 | 9.4 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 18.9 | 21.4 | 8.6 |
Year | Financial activities | Professional and business services | Private educational services | Health care and social assistance | Leisure and hospitality | Other services | Government | Federal government | State government | Local government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 |
1.6 | 2.5 | 11.5 | 7.1 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 36.9 | 31.5 | 29.7 | 42.4 |
2001 |
2.3 | 3.1 | 13.2 | 7.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 36.8 | 31.5 | 30.5 | 41.9 |
2002 |
2.0 | 2.7 | 13.7 | 7.3 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 37.3 | 32.2 | 31.0 | 42.3 |
2003 |
2.1 | 2.3 | 12.1 | 7.0 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 37.2 | 30.9 | 30.3 | 42.6 |
2004 |
2.0 | 2.3 | 13.0 | 7.2 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 36.4 | 29.9 | 30.7 | 41.3 |
2005 |
2.3 | 2.7 | 13.1 | 7.1 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 36.5 | 27.8 | 31.3 | 41.9 |
2006 |
1.9 | 2.4 | 13.5 | 7.0 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 36.2 | 28.4 | 30.2 | 41.9 |
2007 |
2.0 | 2.4 | 12.6 | 7.9 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 35.9 | 26.8 | 30.4 | 41.8 |
2008 |
1.8 | 2.1 | 13.8 | 8.0 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 36.8 | 28.1 | 31.6 | 42.2 |
2009 |
1.8 | 2.3 | 12.9 | 7.5 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 37.4 | 28.0 | 32.2 | 43.3 |
2010 |
2.0 | 2.7 | 13.0 | 6.9 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 36.2 | 26.8 | 31.1 | 42.3 |
2011 |
1.6 | 2.1 | 13.0 | 7.5 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 37.0 | 28.1 | 31.5 | 43.2 |
2012 |
1.9 | 2.4 | 12.4 | 7.0 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 35.9 | 26.9 | 31.3 | 41.7 |
2013 |
2.0 | 2.4 | 12.9 | 7.2 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 35.3 | 26.5 | 30.9 | 40.8 |
2014 |
2.0 | 2.3 | 11.7 | 7.3 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 35.7 | 27.5 | 29.8 | 41.9 |
2015 |
2.4 | 2.5 | 13.7 | 7.3 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 35.2 | 27.3 | 30.2 | 41.3 |
Within the public sector, the union membership rate was highest for local government (41.3 percent), which includes employees in heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters.
In the private sector, industries with high unionization rates included utilities (21.4 percent), transportation and warehousing (18.9 percent), educational services (13.7 percent), and construction (13.2 percent).
Low unionization rates occurred in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (1.2 percent), financial activities (2.4 percent), and professional and business services (2.5 percent).
These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "Union Members — 2015" (HTML) (PDF). The numbers exclude all self-employed workers.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Government, utilities, and transportation and warehousing had highest unionization rates in 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/government-utilities-and-transportation-and-warehousing-had-highest-unionization-rates-in-2015.htm (visited October 31, 2024).