Union membership rates decrease for second consecutive year

Union membership rates decrease overview: 

•  Who: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has revealed the union membership rate percentage has decreased for a second consecutive year. 
• Why: The BLS said the rate dipped from 10.3% in 2021 to 10.1% last year, while the total number of wage and salary workers increased by a total of 5.3 million individuals. 
• Where: Nationwide

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has revealed the union membership rate decreased from 10.3% in 2021 to 10.1% last year, the second consecutive year the percentage of wage and salary workers belonging to unions has dipped.

While the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions increased by 273,000 last year, the 1.9% increase was offset by the total number of wage and salary workers increasing by 5.3 million, according to a BLS news release. 

“This disproportionately large increase in the number of total wage and salary employment compared with the increase in the number of union members led to a decrease in the union membership rate,” the BLS said. 

The percentage of wage and salary workers belonging to unions in 2022 was the lowest on record since 1983, when comparable union data first became available and the union membership rate stood at 20.1%. 

Highest union membership rate found in local government positions, BLS says

The BLS said the number of union members in the public sector, 7.1 million members, was nearly the same as those working in the private sector — 7.2 million members — while the highest area of union membership was found in local government. 

Local government positions, which had a 38.8% percent union membership percentage last year, are composed of jobs that are highly unionized, including firefighters, teachers and police officers, according to the BLS. 

Among the private sector, the BLS said, the highest union membership percentage rates were found in the utilities industry (19.6%), motion pictures and sound record industries (17.3%), and transportation and warehousing industries (14.5%). 

Private sector jobs with lower union membership percentage rates, meanwhile, included the finance, insurance, professional and technical services, and food and drink industries, according to the BLS. 

Earlier this month, quality assurance video game testers at Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios voted to form the first union in the history of Microsoft, which the tech giant has reportedly agreed to sign off on.

Do you belong to a union at your workplace? Let us know in the comments. 

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