Posts tagged Bureau of Labor and Statistics
Unionizing Set to Fall Due to Economic, Political Headwinds
February 3, 2026 // The number of union elections fell to 1,372 last year, down from 1,938 in 2024. That’s the fewest elections since 2021, a review of National Labor Relations Board data found. Union wins also sank by nearly 27% in 2025 compared to 2024, the first downturn since 2020. That drop in election wins led to the number of new workers organized via NLRB elections to fall nearly 40% year-over-over to just 65,542 workers in 2025, according to the data. Organized labor saw a post-pandemic boom after decades of union membership decline. But new economic and political headwinds, including a more management-friendly NLRB and a cooling jobs market, look likely to reverse that trend.
Union Organizing Plummets in 2025: A Win for Worker Freedom and Choice
January 22, 2026 // For supporters of voluntary association and employee freedom, these numbers highlight a positive reality: fewer workers are being swept into union representation through the NLRB process. This trend aligns with broader patterns showing declining union density in the private sector, where membership hovers around just 6 percent of workers.[viii] Forced unionism—where employees can be compelled to pay dues or join as a condition of employment—continues to lose ground as more Americans exercise their right to opt out or avoid unionization altogether.
Empowering Idaho’s self-employed workforce with portable benefits
November 15, 2025 // What’s notable is that these workers aren’t asking for government mandates or subsidies. They’re asking for the freedom to participate in modern systems of security without sacrificing the independence they’ve chosen. Portable benefits meet that need — offering stronger financial security without compromising the initiative and determination that define Idaho’s workforce. By removing outdated barriers to voluntary portable benefits, Idaho can prove that independence and security not only coexist — they make each other stronger.
Commentary: California’s Fast-Food Minimum Wage Hike Is Killing Jobs
November 13, 2025 // "On April 1, 2024, California raised its minimum wage from $16 to $20 per hour for fast-food workers employed at chains with more than 60 locations nationwide," Jeffrey Clemens, Olivia Edwards, and Jonathan Meer write in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper that was first addressed by Reason's Peter Suderman in the November print issue. "Our median estimate suggests that California lost about 18,000 jobs that could have been retained if AB 1228 had not been passed."
Ford CEO says he has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: ‘We are in trouble in our country’
November 13, 2025 // Farley said the company is doing better on wages. It got rid of the lowest tier of its wage scale, and agreed to give workers a 25% salary bump over four years as part of its agreement with the United Auto Workers union in 2023. Still, part of the problem for the shortage of manufacturing jobs is the lack of education and training, according to Farley. He noted, for example, learning to take a diesel engine out of a Ford Super Duty truck takes at least five years. The current system is not meeting the standard, he added.
California Dramatically Expands State Labor Board’s Powers to Cover Employees Under NLRB’s Exclusive Jurisdiction, Following New York’s Lead
October 13, 2025 // California’s legislation comes on the heels of and follows the same logic behind New York’s recently enacted “NLRB Trigger Bill” that similarly empowers the Empire State’s PERB to step into the shoes of the Board, which we covered here. The NLRB has lacked a quorum for months and as a result remains unable to process appeals from decisions by Board administrative law judges or regional directors in unfair labor practice or representation cases. However, AB 288 will likely face similar legal challenges to New York’s “NLRB Trigger Bill,” which the Board has sued over, as we covered here. Specifically, AB 288 may be preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”), which covers most private-sector employees, under longstanding Supreme Court precedent.
Commentary: Next BLS head needs be an innovator, not a loyalist
October 5, 2025 // BLS’s monthly jobs numbers now regularly include adjustments in excess of 100,000 jobs to prior months’ reported results, thanks to late survey responses trickling in. On top of that, technological innovations like rideshare apps have created new categories of jobs where it is unclear how, or even if, BLS data accounts for them. There simply has to be a better, more innovative way to gather data. Given the need for important and significant changes, the top job at BLS therefore needs to go to an economist committed to getting the data right the first time, who can withstand withering scrutiny and is not beholden to “That’s how we have always done it” thinking. It is a difficult, often thankless, job, and to find that person, the administration cannot make loyalty the most important factor.
Op-ed: Does Big Labor Truly Represent the American Worker?
September 3, 2025 // But recent Bureau of Labor Statistics reports indicate that less than one in ten workers, and less than one in 16 workers in the private sector, are union members. Meanwhile, almost half of union members work for state, local, and federal governments, even as less than 15 percent of all workers in the U.S. work for government. Perhaps unsurprisingly given that career path, the Union Membership and Coverage Database estimates that union members are more likely to be college-educated than the workforce as a whole.
The share of Californians in unions holds steady as nationwide numbers continue decline
August 28, 2025 // The report, which analyzed data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that the percentage of Californians covered by a union has hovered between 16% and 18% in the last two decades. In 2024, the most recent year analyzed by researchers, the Golden State’s 2.67 million union-represented workers amounted to 16.3% of its labor force. Unions have only been able to sustain those numbers through consistent new organizing, said Enrique Lopezlira, director of the Low-Wage Work Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center and a co-author of the report.
Commentary: To Harvard and Back with Julie Su
August 18, 2025 // This year, Julie Su, Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of labor, became a resident fellow with Harvard’s Kennedy School, Institute of Politics. The Century Foundation also brought Su on board as a full-time senior fellow. These prestigious institutions seem to have overlooked key events in Su’s long career. Harvard, where Su, a Stanford grad, earned her law degree, hails the Biden nominee as “a nationally recognized workers’ rights and civil rights expert.” As California’s labor commissioner, Su was “widely credited with a renaissance in enforcement and creative approaches to combating wage theft and protecting immigrant workers.” In reality, her experience was a bit more extensive.