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Learn About the U.S. > Work and Workplaces in the U.S. > Employment > Union Membership Across the United States

The US Through the Year
Work and Workplaces in the U.S.
Food and Agriculture in the U.S.
Education in the U.S.
Families and Home Life in the U.S.
Citizens in Action in the United States
 A posed photo of two white women and a black man in a suit.
Employment
  1. Social Security and Retirement
  2. Retirement Age and Social Security
  3. Working at Home
  4. Longer Years of Retirement
  5. Employment trends
  6. Foreign workers in the United States
  7. Mexican Workers in the United States
  8. Workplace Safety Standards
  9. Work-related Injuries and Deaths
  10. Growth of Large Corporate Farming
  11. Union Membership Across the United States
  12. Laws Regarding Working Women
  13. Labor Contracts in the United States
  14. Right-to-Work Laws
  15. Public worker unions in the United States
  16. Unemployment insurance
  17. Equal Opportunity Employment Laws
  18. Workers’ Compensation
  19. Minimum Age for Agricultural Employment
  20. Minors in the Workplace
  21. Minimum Wage
  22. Employment of Persons with Disabilities
  23. Major Equal Employment Legislation in the U.S.
  24. Employment in the Service Sector
  25. Unemployment
  26. State’s Unique Worker’s Compensation Laws
  27. Life on Unemployment
  28. Minimum Wage and Poverty
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People hold signs and picket outside of a store.
In the 1980s, members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association supported striking Safeway workers.
Photo Courtesy of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
Union Membership Across the United States
The rate of union membership in the United States has declined steadily since 1983 when it peaked at 20.1%. Today it is a little over 13%. Some blame foreign competition for the loss of union jobs in the industrial sector, especially the steel and automotive industries. Automation also eliminated the need for some workers on assembly lines. In addition, many companies, located in states where unions were powerful, moved their factories to states that had right-to-work laws and few unions. Hawaii, New York, Alaska, New Jersey, and Michigan had the highest rate of union membership--over 20%-- in 2002.
Special Terms: right-to-work laws  |  rate of union membership

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A Digital Cultural Resource of the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)
with support from the Japan-US Friendship Commission and The Japan Foundation