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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Work Stoppages > Publications > Factsheets

Trends in Work Stoppages

Between 1947 and 2023 there were 11,624 major work stoppages. Decreases in the number of work stoppages and the number of workers involved are especially noticeable during and right after recessions and hit an all-time low (5) in 2009. Chart 1 demonstrates the number of annual work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers between 1947 and 2023.

Chart 1 data table

Table 1. Number of Major Work Stoppages beginning in the year, 1947-2023
Year	Number of work stoppages beginning in the period
1947	270
1948	245
1949	262
1950	424
1951	415
1952	470
1953	437
1954	265
1955	363
1956	287
1957	279
1958	332
1959	245
1960	222
1961	195
1962	211
1963	181
1964	246
1965	268
1966	321
1967	381
1968	392
1969	412
1970	381
1971	298
1972	250
1973	317
1974	424
1975	235
1976	231
1977	298
1978	219
1979	235
1980	187
1981	145
1982	96
1983	81
1984	62
1985	54
1986	69
1987	46
1988	40
1989	51
1990	44
1991	40
1992	35
1993	35
1994	45
1995	31
1996	37
1997	29
1998	34
1999	17
2000	39
2001	29
2002	19
2003	14
2004	17
2005	22
2006	20
2007	21
2008	15
2009	5
2010	11
2011	19
2012	19
2013	15
2014	11
2015	12
2016	15
2017	7
2018	20
2019	25
2020	8
2021	16
2022	23
2023	33
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Major Work Stoppages Program

Of the 663 major work stoppages that occurred between 1993 and 2023, 489 occurred in the private industry, 116 in local government, 57 in state government, and 1 in state and local government.

Chart 2 data table

Table 2. Number of Major Work Stoppages beginning in the year, 1993-2023
Year	Private industry	State and local government
1993	29	6
1994	36	9
1995	22	8
1996	31	6
1997	26	3
1998	30	4
1999	12	5
2000	31	8
2001	25	4
2002	14	5
2003	12	2
2004	14	3
2005	18	4
2006	12	8
2007	12	9
2008	12	3
2009	2	3
2010	7	4
2011	18	1
2012	15	4
2013	6	9
2014	9	2
2015	7	5
2016	8	7
2017	4	3
2018	9	11
2019	11	14
2020	2	6
2021	15	1
2022	14	9
2023	25	8
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Major Work Stoppages Program

These data also allow users to evaluate differences in the number of annual work stoppages by industry. Chart 3 demonstrates that from 1993 to 2023, there were as many stoppages in manufacturing (171) as in construction (62), transportation and warehousing (55), retail trade (26), and information (25) industries combined. Healthcare and social assistance had a total of 118 work stoppages while educational services had 113 work stoppages.

Chart 3 data table

Table 3. Number of Major Work Stoppages by industry, 1993-2023
Industry	Number of work stoppages
Manufacturing	171
Health Care and Social Assistance	118
Educational Services	113
Construction	62
Transportation and Warehousing	55
Retail trade	26
Information	25
Public Administration	24
Utilities	14
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	14
Accommodation and Food Services	12
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction	10
Finance and Insurance	5
Wholesale Trade	4
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	3
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	3
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	3
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting	1
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Major Work Stoppages Program

The top 6 longest work stoppages that occurred between 1993 and 2023 lasted for over a year. The longest one, the Marine Towing and Transportation Employers' Association, lasted for almost 6 years. Over one thousand six hundred workers were kept from their jobs resulting in 2,879,500 days idle.

Chart 4 data table

Table 4. Longest Major Work Stoppages by Calendar Days, 1993-2023
Work Stoppage	Start Date	End Date	Number of calendar days
Marine Towing and Transportation Employers' Association / International Longshoremen's Association	2/16/1988	12/20/1993	2,134
Charter Communications Inc. / International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	3/28/2017	4/18/2022	1,847
Kaiser Aluminum Corp. / United Steelworkers	10/1/1998	9/18/2000	718
Ormet / United Steelworkers	11/22/2004	7/16/2006	601
Detroit Newspapers / International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions	7/13/1995	2/19/1997	587
Caterpillar, Inc. / United Automobile Workers	6/20/1994	12/3/1995	531
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Major Work Stoppages Program

The 5 largest work stoppages by number of workers involved between 1993 and 2023 included four private industry companies and one state government. Together, these 5 stoppages included over 763,200 workers.

Chart 5 data table

Table 5. Largest Major Work Stoppages by Number of Workers, 1993-2023
Work Stoppage	Number of workers
United Parcel Service / International Brotherhood of Teamsters (1997)	180,000
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers / Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (2023)	160,000
General Motors Corp. / United Automobile Workers (1998)	152,200
General Motors Corp. / United Automobile Workers (1996)	136,000
Association of National Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies / American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Screen Actors Guild (2000)	135,000
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Major Work Stoppages Program

For More Information

You can find the latest numbers on work stoppages within the Work Stoppages Database and the Monthly Tables. The Handbook of Methods provides more information on definitions, collection, and methodology.