Union Membership on the Rise

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Union membership increased by 428,000 individuals to a total of 16.1 million in 2008, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (Washington, D.C.). The increase represents a jump in union membership from 12.1% of all employed wage and salary workers to 12.4%, with the most significant growth, not quite a whole percentage point, occurring in the public sector.

Click on the image at the right to see the percentage of unionized workforce in each industrial sector.

The latest statistics come from the Current Population Survey (CPS), administered monthly by the BLS to 60,000 households. Analytical data on the U.S. labor force is gathered and monitored through the CPS. As has been historically consistent, union membership rates remained higher for men than women at 13.4% and 11.4% respectively, though the gap between the two groups has narrowed during the previous two decades. The CPS also revealed that government workers are five times more likely to be members than private sector workers, and black workers are more likely to belong to a union than white, Asian or Hispanic workers. The highest unionization rate is for workers in education, training, and library institutions and is at 38.7%. New York has the highest union membership by state, 24.9%.

In 2007, 311,000 new members joined unions, making 2008 the second year of increased membership. The recent rise in membership reverses a 25-year overall decline. Union membership in the U.S. peaked at approximately 26% of the workforce during the mid 1950s.

Union membership has a significant impact on the industrial market place. Of the 35,576 operational U.S. plants tracked in Industrial Info's North American Plant Database, 8,288 (23.3%) include union-member employees. Energy production boasts the highest union involvement, with 59% of power facilities and 48% of facilities petroleum- related facilities employing union members.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.