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News Release Information

23-335-BOS
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Union Members in Rhode Island — 2022

In 2022, union members accounted for 16.1 percent of wage and salary workers in Rhode Island, compared with 15.7 percent in 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that Rhode Island was 1 of 19 states with a union membership rate above the national average. (See chart 1 and table A.) Nationwide, union members accounted for 10.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 2022. The rate was down from 10.3 percent in 2021, primarily the result of a disproportionately large increase in the number of total wage and salary employment compared with the increase in the number of union members. The 2022 unionization rate (10.1 percent) is the lowest on record. Since 1989, when state data became available, union membership rates in Rhode Island have been above the U.S. average.

Rhode Island had 81,000 union members in 2022. In addition to these members, another 8,000 wage and salary workers in Rhode Island were represented by a union on their main job or covered by an employee association or contract while not union members themselves.

Nationwide, 14.3 million wage and salary workers were union members in 2022 and 1.7 million wage and salary workers were not affiliated with a union but had jobs covered by a union contract. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions (14.3 million) was up by 273,000 from 2022.

Table A. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers in Rhode Island, annual averages, 2012–2022 (numbers in thousands)
Year Total employed Members of unions (1) Represented by unions (2)
Total Percent of employed Total Percent of employed

2012

455 81 17.8 84 18.4

2013

459 77 16.9 82 17.8

2014

453 68 15.1 72 15.8

2015

483 68 14.2 72 14.9

2016

481 74 15.5 81 16.9

2017

486 78 16.1 84 17.2

2018

479 83 17.4 89 18.5

2019

475 83 17.4 90 19.0

2020

455 81 17.8 87 19.1

2021

474 75 15.7 83 17.4

2022

505 81 16.1 89 17.7

Footnotes:
(1) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
(2) Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Note: Data refer to the sole or principal job of full- and part-time wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

In 2022, 30 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 10.1 percent, while 19 states had rates above it and 1 state (New Hampshire) had the same rate. (See table 1.) Eleven states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2022. South Carolina had the lowest rate (1.7 percent), followed by North Carolina (2.8 percent) and South Dakota (3.1 percent). Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2022: Hawaii (21.9 percent) and New York (20.7 percent). (See chart 2.)


Technical Note

The estimates in this release are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides basic information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. The survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau from a scientifically selected national sample of about 60,000 eligible households. The union membership data are tabulated from one-quarter of the CPS monthly sample and are limited to wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded.

Beginning in January of each year, data reflect revised population controls used in the CPS. Additional information about population controls is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating standard errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.

Definitions

The principal definitions used in this release are described briefly below.

Union members. Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.

Union membership rate. Data refer to the proportion of total wage and salary workers who are union members.

Represented by unions. Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Wage and salary workers. Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors. Union membership and earnings data exclude all self-employed workers, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state, 2021-2022 annual averages (numbers in thousands)
State 2021 2022
Total
employed
Members of unions(1) Represented by
unions(2)
Total
employed
Members of unions(1) Represented by
unions(2)
Total Percent
of
employed
Total Percent
of
employed
Total Percent
of
employed
Total Percent
of
employed

Alabama

1,938 115 5.9 133 6.9 2,066 149 7.2 173 8.4

Alaska

293 46 15.8 50 17.2 298 48 16.0 52 17.3

Arizona

3,116 167 5.4 208 6.7 3,061 169 5.5 189 6.2

Arkansas

1,167 46 3.9 51 4.4 1,204 59 4.9 68 5.7

California

15,497 2,468 15.9 2,757 17.8 16,240 2,617 16.1 2,856 17.6

Colorado

2,538 165 6.5 192 7.5 2,672 178 6.7 201 7.5

Connecticut

1,524 223 14.6 248 16.3 1,658 236 14.2 256 15.4

Delaware

435 42 9.7 44 10.2 442 38 8.5 42 9.4

District of Columbia

350 31 8.9 35 9.9 331 30 9.1 34 10.4

Florida

8,667 448 5.2 529 6.1 9,100 414 4.5 511 5.6

Georgia

4,404 211 4.8 256 5.8 4,521 200 4.4 244 5.4

Hawaii

541 121 22.4 131 24.1 572 125 21.9 134 23.4

Idaho

767 36 4.7 42 5.5 825 39 4.7 49 5.9

Illinois

5,397 752 13.9 818 15.2 5,611 735 13.1 789 14.1

Indiana

2,844 256 9.0 290 10.2 3,023 223 7.4 260 8.6

Iowa

1,428 93 6.5 118 8.3 1,506 105 7.0 132 8.7

Kansas

1,300 120 9.2 148 11.4 1,318 129 9.8 160 12.1

Kentucky

1,740 126 7.2 170 9.8 1,791 141 7.9 185 10.3

Louisiana

1,722 81 4.7 98 5.7 1,801 76 4.2 94 5.2

Maine

563 70 12.4 83 14.7 527 48 9.2 61 11.5

Maryland

2,689 295 11.0 332 12.3 2,816 327 11.6 372 13.2

Massachusetts

3,181 402 12.6 433 13.6 3,241 413 12.7 447 13.8

Michigan

4,047 540 13.3 620 15.3 4,212 589 14.0 644 15.3

Minnesota

2,608 416 16.0 446 17.1 2,697 382 14.2 411 15.2

Mississippi

1,080 59 5.5 74 6.9 1,102 62 5.6 79 7.2

Missouri

2,615 235 9.0 266 10.2 2,681 257 9.6 284 10.6

Montana

438 49 11.2 56 12.9 466 52 11.2 57 12.3

Nebraska

896 61 6.8 72 8.0 923 60 6.5 74 8.1

Nevada

1,249 153 12.2 176 14.1 1,287 146 11.3 164 12.8

New Hampshire

643 65 10.1 73 11.3 687 70 10.1 77 11.2

New Jersey

3,762 608 16.2 672 17.9 4,161 619 14.9 666 16.0

New Mexico

770 58 7.5 70 9.1 806 71 8.8 86 10.6

New York

7,770 1,729 22.2 1,869 24.1 8,124 1,679 20.7 1,795 22.1

North Carolina

4,225 108 2.6 142 3.4 4,409 125 2.8 173 3.9

North Dakota

349 19 5.4 24 6.9 365 23 6.4 28 7.6

Ohio

4,966 596 12.0 647 13.0 4,989 641 12.8 699 14.0

Oklahoma

1,546 87 5.6 105 6.8 1,587 88 5.5 113 7.1

Oregon

1,784 318 17.8 336 18.8 1,810 281 15.5 305 16.9

Pennsylvania

5,380 693 12.9 732 13.6 5,628 715 12.7 767 13.6

Rhode Island

474 75 15.7 83 17.4 505 81 16.1 89 17.7

South Carolina

2,070 34 1.7 42 2.0 2,050 35 1.7 40 2.0

South Dakota

393 16 4.0 20 5.0 412 13 3.1 17 4.2

Tennessee

2,820 145 5.2 166 5.9 2,931 163 5.5 184 6.3

Texas

12,057 454 3.8 571 4.7 12,496 518 4.1 643 5.1

Utah

1,465 51 3.5 96 6.5 1,540 60 3.9 133 8.7

Vermont

262 32 12.3 37 14.2 284 34 12.1 38 13.4

Virginia

3,685 176 4.8 240 6.5 3,906 146 3.7 175 4.5

Washington

3,308 629 19.0 661 20.0 3,413 615 18.0 653 19.1

West Virginia

693 66 9.6 73 10.5 689 64 9.2 69 10.0

Wisconsin

2,705 215 7.9 251 9.3 2,648 187 7.1 212 8.0

Wyoming

234 13 5.7 16 6.9 243 14 5.6 18 7.3

Footnotes
(1) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
(2) Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Note: Data refer to the sole or principal job of full- and part-time wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023