UNION MEMBERS – 2014
In 2014, the union membership rate--the percent of wage
and salary workers who were
members of unions--was 11.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage
point from 2013, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of
wage and salary workers
belonging to unions, at 14.6 million, was little
different from 2013. In 1983, the
first year for which comparable union data are available,
the union membership rate
was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union
workers.
The data on union membership are collected as part of the
Current Population Survey
(CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households
that obtains information
on employment and unemployment among the nation's
civilian noninstitutional population
age 16 and over. For more information, see the Technical
Note.
Highlights from the 2014 data:
--Public-sector
workers had a union membership rate (35.7 percent), more
than five
times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.6 percent).
(See table 3.)
--Workers in
education, training, and library occupations and in protective
service
occupations had the highest unionization rate, at 35.3 percent for
each
occupation group. (See table 3.)
--Men had a
higher union membership rate (11.7 percent) than women
(10.5 percent) in 2014. (See table 1.)
--Black workers
were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian,
or Hispanic
workers. (See table 1.)
--Median weekly
earnings of nonunion workers ($763) were 79 percent of
earnings for
workers who were union members ($970). (The comparisons of
earnings in
this release are on a broad level and do not control for many
factors that
can be important in explaining earnings differences.)
(See table 2.)
--Among states,
New York continued to have the highest union membership rate
(24.6
percent), and North Carolina again had the lowest rate (1.9 percent).
(See table 5.)
Industry and
Occupation of Union Members
In 2014, 7.2 million employees in the public sector
belonged to a union, compared with
7.4 million workers in the private sector. The union
membership rate for public-sector
workers (35.7 percent) was substantially higher than the
rate for private-sector workers
(6.6 percent). Within the public sector, the union
membership rate was highest for local
government (41.9 percent), which includes employees in
heavily unionized occupations, such
as teachers, police officers, and firefighters. In
the private sector, industries with
high unionization rates included utilities
(22.3 percent), transportation and warehousing
(19.6 percent), telecommunications (14.8
percent), and construction (13.9 percent). Low
unionization rates occurred in agriculture and related
industries (1.1 percent), finance
(1.3 percent), professional and technical services (1.4
percent), and food services and
drinking places (1.4 percent). (See table 3.)
Among occupational groups, the highest unionization rates
in 2014 were in education,
training, and library occupations and protective service
occupations (35.3 percent each).
The lowest unionization rates were in farming, fishing,
and forestry occupations (2.5 percent)
and sales and related occupations (3.1 percent). (See
table 3.)
Selected
Characteristics of Union Members
The union membership rate was higher for men (11.7
percent) than for women (10.5 percent)
in 2014. (See table 1.) The gap between their rates has
narrowed considerably since 1983,
when rates for men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6
percent, respectively.
Among major race and ethnicity groups, black workers had
a higher union membership rate
in 2014 (13.2 percent) than workers who were white (10.8
percent), Asian (10.4 percent),
or Hispanic (9.2 percent).
By age, the union membership rate was highest among
workers ages 45 to 64--13.8 percent for
those ages 45 to 54 and 14.1 percent for those ages 55 to
64.
The union membership rate was 12.3 percent for full-time
workers, more than twice the rate
for part-time workers, 5.8 percent.
Union
Representation
In 2014, 16.2 million wage and salary workers were
represented by a union. This group
includes both union members (14.6 million) and workers
who report no union affiliation
but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.6
million). (See table 1.)
Earnings
In 2014, among full-time wage and salary workers, union
members had median usual weekly
earnings of $970, while those who were not union members
had median weekly earnings of $763.
In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining
agreement, this earnings difference
reflects a variety of influences, including variations in
the distributions of union members
and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, age, firm
size, or geographic region.
(See tables 2 and 4.)
Union Membership
by State
In 2014, 30 states and the District of
Columbia had union membership rates below that of the
U.S. average, 11.1 percent, 19
states had rates above it, and 1 state had a rate equal to that
of the nation. All states in the East South Central and
West South Central divisions had union
membership rates below the national average, and all
states in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific
divisions had rates above it. Union
membership rates declined over the year in 27 states and
the District of Columbia, rose in 18 states, and were
unchanged in 5 states. (See table 5.)
Nine states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent
in 2014, with North Carolina having
the lowest rate (1.9 percent). The next lowest rates were
in South Carolina (2.2 percent) and
Mississippi and Utah (3.7 percent each). Three states had
union membership rates over 20.0
percent in 2014: New York (24.6 percent), Alaska (22.8
percent), and Hawaii (21.8 percent).
(See chart 1.)
State union membership levels depend on both the
employment level and the union membership
rate. The largest numbers of union members lived in
California (2.5 million) and New York
(2.0 million). Over half of the 14.6 million union
members in the U.S. lived in just seven
states (California, 2.5 million; New York, 2.0 million;
Illinois, 0.8 million; Pennsylvania,
0.7 million; and Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio, 0.6
million each), though these states
accounted for only about one-third of wage and salary
employment nationally.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
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