For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Friday, January 21, 2011                    USDL-11-0063

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                                 UNION MEMBERS -- 2010


In 2010, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were
members of a union--was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers be-
longing to unions declined by 612,000 to 14.7 million. In 1983, the first year for
which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 per-
cent, and there were 17.7 million union workers.

The data on union membership were collected as part of the Current Population Sur-
vey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that obtains informa-
tion 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 2010 data:

   --The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.2  percent) was
     substantially higher than the rate for private sector workers (6.9 percent).
     (See table 3.)

   --Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest
     unionization rate at 37.1 percent. (See table 3.)

   --Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian,
     or Hispanic workers. (See table 1.)

   --Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (24.2 percent)
     and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.2 percent). (See table 5.)

Industry and Occupation of Union Members

In 2010, 7.6 million public sector employees belonged to a union, compared with 7.1
million union workers in the private sector. The union membership rate for public
sector workers (36.2 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private
sector workers (6.9 percent). Within the public sector, local government workers
had the highest union membership rate, 42.3 percent. This group includes workers in
heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and fire fighters.
Private sector industries with high unionization rates included transportation and
utilities (21.8 percent), telecommunications (15.8 percent), and construction (13.1
percent). In 2010, low unionization rates occurred in agriculture and related indus-
tries (1.6 percent) and in financial activities (2.0 percent). (See table 3.)

Among occupational groups, education, training, and library occupations (37.1 per-
cent) and protective service occupations (34.1 percent) had the highest unionization
rates in 2010.  Sales and related occupations (3.2 percent) and farming, fishing, and
forestry occupations (3.4 percent) had the lowest unionization rates. (See table 3.)

Demographic Characteristics of Union Members

The union membership rate was higher for men (12.6 percent) than for women (11.1 per-
cent) in 2010. (See table 1.) The gap between their rates has narrowed considerably
since 1983, when the rate for men was about 10 percentage points higher than the rate
for women. Between 1983 and 2010, the union membership rate for men declined by almost
half (12.1 percentage points), while the rate for women declined by 3.5 percentage
points.

In 2010, among major race and ethnicity groups, black workers were more likely to be
union members (13.4 percent) than workers who were white (11.7 percent), Asian (10.9
percent), or Hispanic (10.0 percent). Black men had the highest union membership rate
(14.8 percent), while Asian men had the lowest rate (9.4 percent).

By age, the union membership rate was highest among 55- to 64-year-old workers (15.7
percent). The lowest union membership rate occurred among those ages 16 to 24 (4.3
percent).

Union Representation

In 2010, 16.3 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union. This group
includes both union members (14.7 million) and workers who report no union affiliation
but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.6 million). (See table 1.) Govern-
ment employees (783,000) comprised about half of the 1.6 million workers who were
covered by a union contract but were not members of a union. (See table 3.)

Earnings

In 2010, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual
weekly earnings of $917, while those who were not represented by unions had median
weekly earnings of $717. (See table 2.) In addition to coverage by a collective bar-
gaining agreement, the difference reflects a variety of influences including varia-
tions in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, in-
dustry, firm size, or geographic region.

Union Membership by State

In 2010, 31 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that
of the U.S. average, 11.9 percent, while 19 states had higher rates. All states in
the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions reported union membership rates above the
national average, and all states in the East South Central and West South Central divi-
sions had rates below it. Union membership rates declined over the year in 33 states
and the District of Columbia and rose in 17 states. (See table 5.)

Eight states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2010, with North Carolina
having the lowest rate (3.2 percent). The next lowest rates were recorded in Arkansas
and Georgia (4.0 percent each), Louisiana (4.3 percent), Mississippi (4.5 percent),
South Carolina and Virginia (4.6 percent each), and Tennessee (4.7 percent). Six states
had union membership rates over 17.0 percent in 2010: New York (24.2 percent), Alaska
(22.9 percent), Hawaii (21.8 percent), Washington (19.4 percent), California (17.5 per-
cent) and New Jersey (17.1 percent).

State union membership levels depend on both the employment level and union member-
ship rate. The largest numbers of union members lived in California (2.4 million) and
New York (2.0 million). About half of the 14.7 million union members in the U.S. lived
in just six states (California, 2.4 million; New York, 2.0 million; Illinois, 0.8 mil-
lion; Pennsylvania, 0.8 million; Ohio, 0.7 million; and New Jersey, 0.6 million), though
these states accounted for only one-third of wage and salary employment nationally.

Texas had about one-fourth as many union members as New York, despite having 1.9 million
more wage and salary employees. Similarly, North Carolina and Hawaii had comparable num-
bers of union members (117,000 and 111,000, respectively), though North Carolina's wage
and salary employment level (3.7 million) was about seven times that of Hawaii (511,000).

Technical Note

  The estimates in this release are obtained from the Current Population Sur-
vey (CPS), which provides the basic information on the labor force, employment,
and unemployment. The survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics by the U.S. Census Bureau from a scientifically selected national sam-
ple of about 60,000 households. The union membership and earnings 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.

  The Census Bureau introduces adjustments to the population controls for the
CPS as part of its annual update of population estimates. The effect of the
revised population controls on the union affiliation data is unknown. However,
the effect of the new controls on the monthly CPS estimates was to decrease the
December 2009 employment level by 243,000. The updated controls had little or
no effect on unemployment rates and other ratios. Estimated levels, such as
the number of union members for 2010, are not strictly comparable with estimated
levels for 2009. These adjustments to the levels, however, should have had only
negligible effects on union membership rates. Additional information is avail-
able on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

  Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired in-
dividuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service:
(800) 877-8339.

Reliability of the estimates

  Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling er-
ror. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a
chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" population values
they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies depending upon
the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured by the standard
error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confi-
dence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard
errors from the "true" population value because of sampling error. BLS analyses
are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence. The state section
of this release preserves the long-time practice of highlighting the direction of
the movements in state union membership rates and levels regardless of their sta-
tistical significance.

  The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can oc-
cur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population,
inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or un-
willingness of respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the
collection or processing of the data.

  For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information on
estimating standard errors, see the Household Data section of the "Explanatory Notes
and Estimates of Error" available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_methods.pdf.

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.

  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 associa-
tion contract.

  Nonunion. Data refer to workers who are neither members of a union nor repre-
sented by a union on their job.

  Usual weekly earnings. Data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions
and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job
in the case of multiple jobholders). Prior to 1994, respondents were asked how much
they usually earned per week. Since January 1994, respondents have been asked to
identify the easiest way for them to report earnings (hourly, weekly, biweekly, twice
monthly, monthly, annually, other) and how much they usually earn in the reported time
period. Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly are converted to a weekly equi-
valent. The term "usual" is as perceived by the respondent. If the respondent asks
for a definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to define the term as more than
half of the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months.

  Median earnings. The median is the amount which divides a given earnings distribu-
tion into two equal groups, one having earnings above the median and the other having
earnings below the median. The estimating procedure places each reported or calcu-
lated weekly earnings value into $50-wide intervals which are centered around multi-
ples of $50. The actual value is estimated through the linear interpolation of the
interval in which the median lies.

  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.

  Full-time workers. Workers who usually work 35 hours or more per week at their sole
or principal job.

  Part-time workers. Workers who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week at their
sole or principal job.

  Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Refers to persons who identified themselves in the
enumeration process as being Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino. Persons whose ethnicity is
identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.