Union Growth in Pennsylvania
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published statistics on Union Membership for 2007 which note a slight increase in the percentage of the national workforce which is unionized. Union workers now account for 12.1% of all wage earners down from 20.1% in 1983. The BLS report notes some interesting trends on national data:
- Workers in the public section had a union membership rate nearly five times that of private sector employees.
- Education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate among all occupations, at 37.2 percent, followed closely by protective service occupations at 35.2 percent.
- Among demographic groups, the union membership rate was highest for black men and lowest for Hispanic women.
- Wage and salary workers ages 45 to 54 (15.7 percent) and ages 55 to 64 (16.1 percent) were more likely to be union members than were workers ages 16 to 24 (4.8 percent).
Overall union membership as a percentage of the Pennsylvania workforce increased from 13.6% to 14.7%. The regional trends in Pennsylvania are nicely summarized by Jim T. Ryan of the Central Penn Business Journal in his posting “Unions see more members”. I agree with Jim’s conclusion that growth in union membership is largely attributable to hiring by unionized companies and not by union organizing of new companies. Union organizing efforts could get a real shot in the arm if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. I have previously blogged on the impact of Union Card Check Legislation.
