The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership on Jan. 18. The information comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey for 2018.
Union members as a percent of the workforce
10.5%
- Public sector 33.9%
- Private sector 6.4%
Total union membership
14.7 million workers
- Public sector 7.2 million
- Private sector  7.6 million
Total union-represented non-members (right to shirk)
1.6 million workers
What non-union workers earn compared to union-represented workers
82%
The most unionized private-sector industries
- Utilities 20.1%
- Transportation/warehouse 16.7%
- Telecommunications 15.4%
- Construction 12.8%
… and the least
- Agriculture 2.2%
- Insurance 1.7%
- Professional-technical 1.5%
- Food service 1.3%
- Finance 1.3%
Demographics (percentage of each category that are union members)
- Men 11.1%
- Women 9.9%
- Black 12.5%
- White 10.4 %
- Hispanic 9.1%
- Asian 8.4%
- Age 16 to 24 4.4%
- Age 25 to 34 9.3%
- Age 35 to 44 11.7%
- Age 45 to 54 12.8%
- Age 55 to 64 13.3%
The most unionized states
- #1 Hawaii 23.1%
- #2 New York 22.3%
- #3 Washington 19.8%
- #4 Alaska 18.5%
- #5 Rhode Island 17.4%
- #6 Connecticut 16.0%
- #7 Minnesota 15.0%
- #8 New Jersey 14.9%
- #9 California 14.7%
- #10 Michigan 14.5%
- #11(tie) Oregon 13.9%
- #11(tie) Nevada 13.9%
… and the least
- #44 Idaho 4.7%
- #47 Georgia 4.5%
- #46 Texas 4.3%
- #47 Virginia 4.3%
- #48 Utah 4.1%
- #49 (tie) North Carolina 2.7%
- #49 (tie) South Carolina 2.7%
[MORE: See the full report here.]
