BLS Report Summary: Union Membership Declined in 2021

The 2021 Union Members Summary was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The annual reports states that union membership declined in 2021 by 241,000 members, to a rate of 10.3%.  In 2020, BLS reported the union membership rate at 10.5%.

Here are some additional findings from the 2021 Union Members Summary:

• Public-sector workers union membership rate: 33.9%, down 0.9% from 2020
• Private-sector workers union membership rate: 6.1%, down 0.2% from 2020
• 14 million workers are union members, down 0.2% from 2020
• 15.8 million workers are represented by a union, down 0.5% from 2020
• Union members median weekly earnings: $1,169
• Non-union members median weekly earnings: $975
• States with highest unionization rates: Hawaii (22.4%) and New York (22.2%)
• States with lowest unionization rates: South Carolina (1.7%) and North Carolina (2.6%)
• Roughly 30% of union members live in California or New York.

*All data in this post was taken from Bureau of Labor Statistics 2021 Union Members Summary. 

Additional Resources

REPORT: PRO Act Would Reduce Workers’ Incomes and Job Opportunities
July 2021
Institute for the American Worker

REPORT: The PRO Act and Union Finances
April 2021
Nathan Mehrens, Senior Fellow
Institute for the American Worker