Union Membership Rates Continue Decline
Created on January 27, 2012
Union Membership Percentages
2011:
6.9%
11.8%
1935: 13.2% (year National Labor Relations Act signed into law)
Note: This chart displays union membership using two separate data sources: assorted union reports filed with the department of labor between 1930 and 1980 and data from the Current Population Survey. Data for 1982 have been interpolated.
Source: Data for 1930–1980: U.S. Department of Labor, assorted labor union reports, and Haver Analytics; 1977–2011: Heritage Foundation calculations using data from Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson, “Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey,” Unionstats.com, at http://www.unionstats.com, and from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Percentage of Private Sector Wage and Salary Workers
Percentage of All Wage and Salary Workers
Percentage of Non-Agricultural Payroll Employment
1945: 35.5%
Chart 1 • WM 3471
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