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In 2014, public-sector workers had a union membership rate of 35.7 percent. That was more than five times the rate for private-sector workers, 6.6 percent. Ten years earlier, the union membership rate for public-sector workers was 36.4 percent, and the rate for private-sector workers was 7.9 percent.
| Industry | 2004 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|
|
Private sector, total |
7.9 | 6.6 |
|
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction |
11.4 | 4.8 |
|
Construction |
14.7 | 13.9 |
|
Manufacturing |
12.9 | 9.7 |
|
Wholesale and retail trade |
5.5 | 4.2 |
|
Transportation and utilities |
24.9 | 20.1 |
|
Information(1) |
14.2 | 8.6 |
|
Financial activities |
2.0 | 2.0 |
|
Professional and business services |
2.3 | 2.3 |
|
Education and health services |
8.3 | 8.2 |
|
Leisure and hospitality |
3.1 | 3.2 |
|
Other services(1) |
2.8 | 2.9 |
|
Public sector, total |
36.4 | 35.7 |
|
Federal government |
29.9 | 27.5 |
|
State government |
30.7 | 29.8 |
|
Local government |
41.3 | 41.9 |
| Footnotes: (1) Includes other industries, not shown separately. |
||
Within the public sector, the union membership rate was highest for local government, 41.9 percent in 2014. Local government includes employees in heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters.
In the private sector, the transportation and utilities industry had the highest union membership rate in 2014 (20.1 percent). The rate for construction was 13.9 percent, and for manufacturing it was 9.7 percent. From 2004 to 2014, the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry had the largest decline in union membership, from 11.4 to 4.8 percent.
Professional and business services (2.3 percent), financial activities (2.0 percent), and leisure and hospitality (3.2 percent) all had relatively low union membership rates.
In 2014, the union membership rate for wage and salary workers age 16 and older was 11.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from 2013. In 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent.
| Year | Percent |
|---|---|
|
1983 |
20.1 |
|
1984 |
18.8 |
|
1985 |
18.0 |
|
1986 |
17.5 |
|
1987 |
17.0 |
|
1988 |
16.8 |
|
1989 |
16.4 |
|
1990 |
16.0 |
|
1991 |
16.0 |
|
1992 |
15.7 |
|
1993 |
15.7 |
|
1994 |
15.5 |
|
1995 |
14.9 |
|
1996 |
14.5 |
|
1997 |
14.1 |
|
1998 |
13.9 |
|
1999 |
13.9 |
|
2000 |
13.4 |
|
2001 |
13.3 |
|
2002 |
13.3 |
|
2003 |
12.9 |
|
2004 |
12.5 |
|
2005 |
12.5 |
|
2006 |
12.0 |
|
2007 |
12.1 |
|
2008 |
12.4 |
|
2009 |
12.3 |
|
2010 |
11.9 |
|
2011 |
11.8 |
|
2012 |
11.3 |
|
2013 |
11.3 |
|
2014 |
11.1 |
These data are from the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "Union Members — 2014" (HTML) (PDF). The union membership rate is the percentage of wage and salary workers who are members of unions. The numbers exclude all self-employed workers.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Union membership rate in private industry was 6.6 percent in 2014; public sector 35.7 percent at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/union-membership-rate-in-private-industry-and-public-sector-in-2014.htm (visited October 30, 2024).