Union membership in the U.S. private sector dropped again in 2004, from 8.2 percent in 2003 to a new low of 7.9 percent in 2004, less than half of what it was twenty years ago and far below its peak of about 35 percent in the early 1950s.

Public sector union membership also declined by 0.8 percent, but union membership among government employees is still more than four times that of the private sector, at 36.4 percent.

The overall rate of unionization, combining private and public workers, was 12.5 percent, down from 12.9 percent in 2003.

In Washington State, unions fare considerably better than the national average, with 19.3 percent of Washington’s workforce belonging to unions. This makes Washington the sixth most heavily unionized state in the U.S.