Today's Labor Force

In 2005, 12.5% of American workers were union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Union Members in 2005 (January 20, 2006). This figure represented a dramatic decline from the early 1970s, when nearly one-quarter of wage and salary workers in the United States belonged to a union. According to Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson in the Union Membership and Coverage Database ("Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment among All Wage and Salary Workers, 1973–2004," 2005, http://www.unionstats.com/), 24% of workers were union members in 1973, with membership declining rapidly during the 1980s to 16.1% by 1990, and the downward trend has continued into the early 2000s.

It should be noted that a worker might be represented by a union in contract negotiations but not be a dues-paying member. In a "right-to-work" state a worker is allowed to join a unionized company and not be forced to join the union. By law, the nonunion worker, working in a unionized company, must benefit from any union contract. Unions represented 13.7% of wage and salary TABLE 1.12 Poverty status and work experience by weeks in labor force, 2003 "Table 1. People in the Labor Force: Poverty Status and Work Experience by Weeks in the Labor Force, 2003," in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf (accessed March 21, 2006)employees in 2005; that is, 13.7% of workers held jobs that were covered by a union contract whether or not the employees were affiliated with the union personally. (See Table 1.24.)

Studies have established that the recession of the early 1980s, the movement of jobs overseas, the decline in traditionally unionized heavy industry, and other factors contributed to a general decline in union membership that has been documented in data comparable from year to year since 1983. In a strategy that was counter to past contract negotiations, many unions in the 1980s agreed to "give backs" (surrendering existing benefits) and lower salaries in exchange for job guarantees. Nonetheless, movement of jobs from the United States to other countries continued, which resulted in fewer jobs for American workers and more plant closings, and prompted more aggressive recruitments of members by unions during the 1990s. As of 2006, leading labor unions in the United States included:

• AFL-CIO—Formed in 1955 by the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organization, by 2006 the AFL-CIO represented about nine million American workers in fifty-four affiliated unions, ranging from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) to the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).
• American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—Boasting membership of 1.4 million in 2006, the nation's largest union of public service employees was founded during the Great Depression of the 1930s to protect the rights of state and local government employees.
• American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—Representing the economic, social, and professional interests of classroom teachers since 1916, the AFT included 3,000 local affiliates and 1.3 million members in 2006.
• Communications Workers of America (CWA)—Growing out of the telephone industry in the early part of the twentieth century, the CWA is the nation's largest communications and media union with more than 700,000 members in such sectors as telecommunications, broadcasting, cable TV, journalism, publishing, and electronics.
• United Auto Workers (UAW)—With 640,000 active and 500,000 retired members in 2006, the UAW protects the rights of automobile and aeronautics workers, and since 1935 has won such landmark concessions as employer-paid health care and cost-of-living allowances.
• United Mine Workers of America—The United Mine Workers has won several hard-fought battles to ensure fair compensation, health care, and safety standards in the mining industry since the union's inception in 1890.
• United Steelworkers of America (USWA)—Formed in 1936 in an effort to organize the labor movement within the North American steel industry, the USWA had 1.2 million active and retired members in 2006.

TABLE 1.13 Poverty status by age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2003 "Table 2. People in the Labor Force for 27 Weeks or More: Poverty Status by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, 2003," in A profile of the Working Poor, 2003, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf (accessed March 21, 2006)

TABLE 1.14 Poverty status by educational attainment, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2003 "Table 3. People in the Labor Force for 27 Weeks or More: Poverty Status by Educational Attainment, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, and Sex, 2003." In A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf (accessed March 21, 2006)

TABLE 1.15 Poverty status by occupation of longest job held, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2003

Industry and Occupation

Among the private nonagricultural industries, transportation and utilities had the highest unionization rate in 2005, with the utilities subsector registering 27.4% union membership, followed by transportation and warehousing (23.4%). In 2005, 21.4% of telecommunications workers belonged to a union, as did 15% of those in motion pictures and sound recording and 13.3% of workers in durable goods manufacturing. Conversely, in the financial sector, only 2.3% of workers were unionized in 2005, as were 2.7% of agricultural workers, 2.7% of workers in TABLE 1.15 Poverty status by occupation of longest job held, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, 2003 [CONTINUED] "Table 4. People in the Labor Force for 27 Weeks or More Who Worked during the Year: Poverty Status by Occupation of Longest Job Held, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, and Sex, 2003," in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf (accessed March 21, 2006)the professional and business services sector, and 3.1% of leisure and hospitality workers. (See Table 1.25.)

In regard to occupational groups, the unionization rate for 2005 was highest among those working in education, training, and library services (38.5%), followed by those working in protective service jobs (37%), which include many government workers, such as police officers and firefighters. (See Table 1.25.)

Characteristics of Union Members

Union membership in 2005 was higher among white men (13.4%,) than among white women (10.8%). Furthermore, union membership in 2005 was higher among African-Americans (15.1%) than either whites (12.2%), Asians (11.2%), or Hispanics (10.4%). Black men had the highest rate of union representation (17.7%), while Hispanic men experienced the lowest representation rate (11.5%). (See Table 1.24.)

In 2005 union members garnered a median weekly salary ($801) that was $179 higher than the median weekly salary of those not represented by unions ($622), according to the BLS in Union Members in 2005. The union versus nonunion earnings difference was slightly greater for women than for men. Unionized TABLE 1.16 Poverty status, presence of related children, and work experience of family members in the labor force for 27 weeks or more, 2003 "Table 5. Primary Families: Poverty Status, Presence of Related Children, and Work Experience of Family Members in the Labor Force for 27 Weeks or More, 2003," in A Profile of the Working Poor, 2003, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2003.pdf (accessed March 21, 2006)women earned a median weekly paycheck of $731, compared with $559 for women not belonging to or represented by a union, a difference of $172 per week. Men who belonged to a union had median weekly earnings of $857, compared with $692 for nonunion men, a difference of $165 per week. The disparity was greatest for Hispanic workers in 2005. The median weekly earnings of unionized Hispanic workers totaled $673, compared with $449 for nonunionized Hispanic employees, a difference of $224 per week. (See Table 1.26.)

OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES

In nearly all occupations, people represented by unions earned more than those who were not. The differences were small among managerial and professional specialties and much larger among construction and extraction occupations, production, transportation and material moving occupations, and service occupations. With few exceptions, including workers engaged in wholesale trade, financial activities, and professional and business services, employees working in the private sector in 2005 who were represented by a union earned more than their nonunion counterparts. In the public sector, state and local government employees who were represented by a union also earned more than those not represented by a union. However, at the federal government level, nonunion employees earned slightly more, with unionized employees earning a median $873 weekly and nonunion employees receiving $887. The differences in construction, transportation, and local government were particularly large. For example, the weekly median salary of unionized construction workers was $933 in 2005. In contrast, the median salary of non-unionized construction workers in 2005 was $590. (See Table 1.27.)