February 6, 2020: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 10.3% of wage and salary workers belong to a labor union.[1]
However, there is a massive difference between the unionization of public and private-sector workers. Just 6.2% of private-sector workers belong to a union but the rate is more than five times higher in the public sector. Among government employees, 33.6% belong to a union.[1]
Among those who work in the private sector, the 6.2% union membership rate is roughly a third of what it was in the 1980s (the first year comparable data is available).[2]
Among government employees, unionization rates were nearly 40% until they began declining in 2011. That may be related to the passage of right-to-work laws in a growing number of states. Additionally, “in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision affirmed the First Amendment rights of all public employees.” All government employees now "have the ability to fully leave a union. In short, the decision extended right-to-work to all public-sector workers.”[2]
|
