| Union membership rolls are getting shorter, according to new research by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Approximately 12 percent of American workers were union members last year, down from 12.5 percent in 2005. The rate was 20.1 percent in 1983.
As expected, government workers had a much higher rate (36.2 percent) of unionization than those in the private sector (7.4 percent). Workers in education, library science and training pulled in the highest unionization (37 percent), compared to other professions.
Meanwhile, union members earned more than non-union members last year. Full-time workers who were union members had median weekly earnings of $833, compared to $642 for those who were not represented by unions, BLS states.
The difference reflects coverage by a collective bargaining agreement and variations in the distributions of union members and non-union employees by occupation, industry, firm size or geographic region, researchers explain. |
