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The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier this week released its annual report on union membership in the United States. The report revealed that the percentage of American workers in unions dropped to a record low of 9.9% in 2024, while the total number of workers in a union declined by about 10,000 members. The decline comes as the U.S. workforce added 2.2 million jobs in 2024, with non-union positions growing at a faster pace than union ones. Click here to see the report. The BLS data also showed that non-union workers had median weekly earnings that were 15% less than earnings for union workers ($1,138 versus $1,337). The occupations with the highest rates of union membership in 2024 were education, training, and library occupations (32.3%), protective service occupations (29.6%), and construction and extraction occupations (15.4%). The most unionized states were Hawaii and New York with union membership rates of 26.5% and 20.6%, respectively. The least unionized states were North Carolina (2.4%), South Dakota (2.7 %), and South Carolina (2.8%).
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier this week released its annual report on union membership in the United States. The report revealed that the percentage of American workers in unions dropped to a record low of 9.9% in 2024, while the total number of workers in a union declined by about 10,000 members. The decline comes as the U.S. workforce added 2.2 million jobs in 2024, with non-union positions growing at a faster pace than union ones.
Click here to see the report.
The BLS data also showed that non-union workers had median weekly earnings that were 15% less than earnings for union workers ($1,138 versus $1,337). The occupations with the highest rates of union membership in 2024 were education, training, and library occupations (32.3%), protective service occupations (29.6%), and construction and extraction occupations (15.4%). The most unionized states were Hawaii and New York with union membership rates of 26.5% and 20.6%, respectively. The least unionized states were North Carolina (2.4%), South Dakota (2.7 %), and South Carolina (2.8%).