23 major work stoppages in 2022

In 2022 there were 23 major work stoppages beginning during the year. There were 16 major work stoppages that began in 2021. A total of 120,600 workers were involved in major work stoppages that began in 2022. Service-providing industries accounted for 98 percent of the idled workers over the year. Educational services, with 9 major stoppages, and health care and social assistance, with 8, had the highest number of stoppages over the year.

In 2022, the largest work stoppage by lost workdays and number of workers was the academic workers’ stoppage in the University of California system. The work stoppage began on November 14, 2022 and initially involved 48,000 workers. It continued until December 23, 2022, but the number of workers dropped to 36,000 on December 12, 2022.

These data are from the Work Stoppages program. To learn more, see “Major Work Stoppages in 2022.” Major work stoppages include both worker-initiated strikes and employer-initiated lockouts that involve 1,000 or more workers and last at least one shift during the work week, Monday through Friday excluding federal holidays.