Union membership rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 10.1 percent in 2022

The union membership rate was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 10.3 percent in 2021. The 2022 unionization rate (10.1 percent) is the lowest on record. In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent.

In 2022, men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.5 percent) than women (9.6 percent). However, 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. The difference between the unionization rates for men and women has been less than 1 percentage point in each of the last three years; the difference back in 1983 was 10.1 percentage points.

Among major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2022 (11.6 percent) than White workers (10.0 percent), Asian workers (8.3 percent), and Hispanic or Latino workers (8.8 percent).

By sex, White men and Black men had higher union membership rates (10.4 percent and 13.0 percent, respectively) than their female counterparts (9.5 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively). Asian women, at 9.1 percent, had a higher union rate than Asian men, at 7.6 percent. Hispanic or Latino men (9.1 percent) and Hispanic or Latino women (8.5 percent) had similar union membership rates in 2022.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see “Union Members – 2022.” The union membership rate is calculated by dividing the number of union members by the number of wage and salary workers. Union membership data do not include self-employed workers. People whose ethnicity is Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.