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In 2012, the union membership rate—the percentage of wage and salary workers who were members of a union—was 11.3 percent, down from 11.8 percent in 2011. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.4 million, also declined over the year.
Year | Total union members | Union members as a percent of wage and salary workers | Total represented by unions | Represented by unions as a percent of wage and salary workers |
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | 17,717,000 | 20.1 | 20,532,000 | 23.3 |
1984 | 17,340,000 | 18.8 | 19,932,000 | 21.6 |
1985 | 16,996,000 | 18.0 | 19,358,000 | 20.5 |
1986 | 16,975,000 | 17.5 | 19,278,000 | 19.9 |
1987 | 16,913,000 | 17.0 | 19,051,000 | 19.2 |
1988 | 17,002,000 | 16.8 | 19,241,000 | 19.0 |
1989 | 16,960,000 | 16.4 | 19,198,000 | 18.6 |
1990(1) | 16,776,000 | 16.0 | 19,105,000 | 18.2 |
1991(1) | 16,612,000 | 16.0 | 18,790,000 | 18.1 |
1992(1) | 16,418,000 | 15.7 | 18,578,000 | 17.7 |
1993(1) | 16,627,000 | 15.7 | 18,682,000 | 17.6 |
1994 | 16,748,000 | 15.5 | 18,850,000 | 17.5 |
1995 | 16,360,000 | 14.9 | 18,346,000 | 16.7 |
1996 | 16,269,000 | 14.5 | 18,158,000 | 16.2 |
1997 | 16,110,000 | 14.1 | 17,923,000 | 15.6 |
1998 | 16,211,000 | 13.9 | 17,918,000 | 15.4 |
1999 | 16,477,000 | 13.9 | 18,182,000 | 15.3 |
2000(2) | 16,334,000 | 13.4 | 18,153,000 | 14.9 |
2001 | 16,305,000 | 13.3 | 18,026,000 | 14.7 |
2002 | 16,145,000 | 13.3 | 17,695,000 | 14.5 |
2003 | 15,776,000 | 12.9 | 17,448,000 | 14.3 |
2004 | 15,472,000 | 12.5 | 17,087,000 | 13.8 |
2005 | 15,685,000 | 12.5 | 17,223,000 | 13.7 |
2006 | 15,359,000 | 12.0 | 16,860,000 | 13.1 |
2007 | 15,670,000 | 12.1 | 17,243,000 | 13.3 |
2008 | 16,098,000 | 12.4 | 17,761,000 | 13.7 |
2009 | 15,327,000 | 12.3 | 16,904,000 | 13.6 |
2010 | 14,715,000 | 11.9 | 16,290,000 | 13.1 |
2011 | 14,764,000 | 11.8 | 16,290,000 | 13.0 |
2012(3) | 14,366,000 | 11.3 | 15,922,000 | 12.5 |
Footnotes: |
In 2012, 15.9 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union. This group includes both union members (14.4 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.6 million).
A total of 7.3 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union in 2012, compared with 7.0 million union workers in the private sector. The union membership rate for public-sector workers (35.9 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private-sector workers (6.6 percent).
Percent of total employed | ||
---|---|---|
Industry | 2011 | 2012 |
Private sector, total | 6.9 | 6.6 |
Agriculture and related | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 7.2 | 7.2 |
Construction | 14.0 | 13.2 |
Manufacturing | 10.5 | 9.6 |
Wholesale and retail trade | 4.8 | 4.7 |
Transportation and utilities | 21.1 | 20.6 |
Information | 10.1 | 9.7 |
Financial activities | 1.6 | 1.9 |
Professional and business services | 2.1 | 2.4 |
Education and health services | 8.6 | 8.1 |
Leisure and hospitality | 2.7 | 2.7 |
Other | 3.4 | 2.5 |
Public sector, total | 37.0 | 35.9 |
Federal government | 28.1 | 26.9 |
State government | 31.5 | 31.3 |
Local government | 43.2 | 41.7 |
Within the public sector, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 41.7 percent. This group includes workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Private-sector industries with high unionization rates included transportation and utilities (20.6 percent) and construction (13.2 percent). Low unionization rates occurred in agriculture and related industries (1.4 percent) and in financial activities (1.9 percent).
These data on union membership are from the Current Population Survey. Unionization data are for wage and salary workers. Find out more in "Union Members — 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-13-0105.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Union membership declines in 2012 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130124.htm (visited October 31, 2024).