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Utilities industry has highest union membership rate in private sector in 2017
February 23, 2018
The union membership rate—the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—was 10.7 percent in 2017, the same as in 2016. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.8 million in 2017, edged up by 262,000 from 2016. The union membership rate of public-sector workers, 34.4 percent in 2017, continued to be more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.5 percent).
| Year | All industries | Private sector | Agriculture and related industries |
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction |
Construction | Manufacturing | Wholesale trade | Retail trade | Transportation and warehousing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2000 |
13.4% | 9.0% | 2.6% | 11.3% | 17.5% | 14.9% | 5.3% | 6.1% | 25.7% |
|
2001 |
13.3 | 8.9 | 2.8 | 11.5 | 16.9 | 14.7 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 25.0 |
|
2002 |
13.3 | 8.6 | 2.8 | 8.7 | 16.7 | 14.6 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 24.6 |
|
2003 |
12.9 | 8.2 | 1.6 | 9.1 | 16.0 | 13.5 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 25.8 |
|
2004 |
12.5 | 7.9 | 2.2 | 11.4 | 14.7 | 12.9 | 4.6 | 5.7 | 24.2 |
|
2005 |
12.5 | 7.8 | 2.7 | 8.0 | 13.1 | 13.0 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 23.4 |
|
2006 |
12.0 | 7.4 | 2.3 | 7.5 | 13.0 | 11.7 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 22.2 |
|
2007 |
12.1 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 9.3 | 13.9 | 11.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 20.9 |
|
2008 |
12.4 | 7.6 | 2.8 | 6.9 | 15.6 | 11.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 21.3 |
|
2009 |
12.3 | 7.2 | 1.1 | 8.6 | 14.5 | 10.9 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 21.3 |
|
2010 |
11.9 | 6.9 | 1.6 | 8.0 | 13.1 | 10.7 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 20.5 |
|
2011 |
11.8 | 6.9 | 1.4 | 7.2 | 14.0 | 10.5 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 20.4 |
|
2012 |
11.3 | 6.6 | 1.4 | 7.2 | 13.2 | 9.6 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 19.9 |
|
2013 |
11.3 | 6.7 | 1.0 | 5.4 | 14.1 | 10.1 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 19.6 |
|
2014 |
11.1 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 4.8 | 13.9 | 9.7 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 19.6 |
|
2015 |
11.1 | 6.7 | 1.2 | 5.4 | 13.2 | 9.4 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 18.9 |
|
2016 |
10.7 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 5.6 | 13.9 | 8.8 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 18.4 |
|
2017 |
10.7 | 6.5 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 14.0 | 9.1 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 17.3 |
| Year | Utilities | Information | Financial activities | Professional and business services |
Education and health services |
Leisure and hospitality | Other services | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2000 |
27.2% | 14.7% | 1.6% | 2.5% | 7.9% | 3.8% | 3.5% | 36.9% |
|
2001 |
26.7 | 14.1 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 8.3 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 36.8 |
|
2002 |
25.4 | 14.6 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 8.5 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 37.3 |
|
2003 |
28.2 | 13.6 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 8.0 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 37.2 |
|
2004 |
28.4 | 14.2 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 8.3 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 36.4 |
|
2005 |
27.4 | 13.6 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 8.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 36.5 |
|
2006 |
28.2 | 12.0 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 8.3 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 36.2 |
|
2007 |
28.4 | 12.1 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 8.8 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 35.9 |
|
2008 |
26.9 | 12.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 9.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 36.8 |
|
2009 |
26.1 | 10.0 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 8.6 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 37.4 |
|
2010 |
28.3 | 9.6 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 36.2 |
|
2011 |
25.0 | 10.1 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 8.6 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 37.0 |
|
2012 |
24.7 | 9.7 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 8.1 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 35.9 |
|
2013 |
25.6 | 8.9 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 8.3 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 35.3 |
|
2014 |
22.3 | 8.6 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 8.2 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 35.7 |
|
2015 |
21.4 | 8.6 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 8.7 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 35.2 |
|
2016 |
21.5 | 9.0 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 8.2 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 34.4 |
|
2017 |
23.0 | 9.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 8.1 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 34.4 |
Private-sector industries with high union membership rates in 2017 include utilities (23.0 percent), transportation and warehousing (17.3 percent), and construction (14.0 percent). Industries with low union membership rates include agriculture (2.1 percent), professional and business services (2.3 percent), and financial activities (2.4 percent).
These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "Union Members — 2017" (HTML) (PDF). The numbers exclude all self-employed workers.
SUGGESTED CITATION
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Utilities industry has highest union membership rate in private sector in 2017 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/utilities-industry-has-highest-union-membership-rate-in-private-sector-in-2017.htm (visited February 21, 2021).
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