6.5 Percent in Private Sector Are Unionized

Reflecting a long-term decline, just 6.5 percent of U.S. private sector workers belong to a labor union. However, at 34.4 percent, union membership is much higher among government employees.[1]

Because the private sector employs more people, the raw number of private and public sector union members is roughly equal —7.6 million in the private sector and 7.2 million among government employees.

Overall, including both the private and public sectors, 10.7 percent of all workers belong to a labor union. That’s unchanged from a year ago but way down from 20.1 percent in 1983. That was the first year that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collected such data.

New York (23.8 percent) and Hawaii (21.3 percent) have the highest levels of union membership.

South Carolina (2.6 percent), North Carolina (3.4 percent), and Utah (3.9 percent) have the lowest levels of union membership.

Footnotes:

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Union Members Summary," January 19, 2018

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.