Private Sector Union Membership Grew in 2023!
UNION MEMBERS —
The number of union workers employed in the private sector increased by 191,000 to 7.4 million in 2023, while the unionization rate was unchanged at 6.0 percent. Industries with high unionization rates included utilities (19.9 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.9 percent), educational services (12.9 percent), and motion picture and sound recording industries (12.1 percent). Low unionization rates occurred in finance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.3 percent), food services and drinking places (1.4 percent), and insurance (1.5 percent).
2023 The union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions–was 10.0 percent in 2023, little changed from the previous year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.4 million, also showed little movement over the year. In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union workers. These data on union membership are collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. For further information, see the Technical Note in this news release.
Highlights from the 2023 data: –The union membership rate of public-sector workers (32.5 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (6.0 percent).
–The highest unionization rates were among workers in education, training, and library occupations (32.7 percent) and protective service occupations (31.9 percent).
–Men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.5 percent) than women (9.5 percent). (See table 1.) –Black workers remained more likely to be union members than White, Asian, or Hispanic workers.
–Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 86 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($1,090 versus $1,263). (The comparisons of earnings in this news release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences.)
–Among states, Hawaii and New York had the highest union membership rates (24.1 percent and 20.6 percent, respectively), while South Carolina and North Carolina had the lowest (2.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively). Industry and Occupation of Union Members In 2023, 7.0 million employees in the public sector belonged to unions, compared with 7.4 million workers in the private sector. In the public sector, both union membership and the union membership rate (32.5 percent) were little changed over the year.
In 2023, the union membership rate continued to be highest in local government (38.4 percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers. The number of union workers employed in the private sector increased by 191,000 to 7.4 million in 2023, while the unionization rate was unchanged at 6.0 percent. Industries with high unionization rates included utilities (19.9 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.9 percent), educational services (12.9 percent), and motion picture and sound recording industries (12.1 percent). Low unionization rates occurred in finance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.3 percent), food services and drinking places (1.4 percent), and insurance (1.5 percent).
In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the union membership rate for private-sector workers in nonagricultural industries was 16.8 percent. Since that time, this rate (at 6.1 percent in 2023) has generally trended down. The public- sector union membership rate showed little net change from 1983 (36.7 percent) to 2011 (37.0 percent) but has since declined to 32.5 percent. Among occupational groups, the highest unionization rates in 2023 were in education, training, and library occupations (32.7 percent) and in protective service occupations (31.9 percent). Unionization rates were lowest in sales and related occupations (2.9 percent), food preparation and serving related occupations (3.2 percent), computer and mathematical occupations (3.8 percent), and management occupations (4.1 percent). Selected Characteristics of Union Members
In 2023, the unionization rate for women was little changed over the year at 9.5 percent, while the rate for men was unchanged at 10.5 percent. Both the number of women, at 6.6 million, and the number of men, at 7.8 million, who were union members changed little over the year. (See table 1.) Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2023 (11.8 percent) than White workers (9.8 percent), Asian workers (7.8 percent), and Hispanic workers (9.0 percent). The union membership rates of Asian workers, White workers, Black workers, and Hispanic workers were little different from 2022. By age, workers ages 45 to 54 had the highest union membership rate in 2023, at 12.6 percent. Younger workers–those ages 16 to 24–had the lowest union membership rate, at 4.4 percent. In 2023, the union membership rate for full-time workers (10.9 percent) was more than double that for part-time workers (5.2 percent).
Union Representation In 2023, 16.2 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, little different than in 2022. The percentage of workers represented by a union was 11.2 percent in 2023, also little different than a year earlier. Workers represented by a union include both union members (14.4 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.8 million). (See table 1.) Earnings Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $1,263 in 2023, while nonunion workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,090. In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences reflect 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 2023, 31 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the U.S. average (10.0 percent), while 19 states had rates above it.
All states in both the East South Central and West South Central divisions had union membership rates below the national average, while all states in both the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions had rates above it. Eleven states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2023. South Carolina had the lowest rate (2.3 percent). The next lowest rates were in North Carolina and South Dakota (2.7 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively). Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2023: Hawaii (24.1 percent) and New York (20.6 percent). In 2023, about 29 percent of the 14.4 million union members lived in just two states (California at 2.5 million and New York at 1.7 million). However, these two states accounted for 17 percent of wage and salary employment nationally.
