On January 28th, 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its annual report on union density, showing that the total percentage of workers in a union remained flat in 2024 despite huge organizing wins across the country and across different sectors of the economy. The union membership rate—the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—was 9.9 percent in 2024, barely changed from the prior year.
In 1983, the first year for which comparable data was available, there were 17.7 million union members and in 2024 there were 14.3 million union members. While that drop is not enormous, the problem is that there are roughly 100 million more people in America than there was in 1983. In 1983, a little more than one in five workers belonged to a union. Today, thanks to decades of antiworker trade deals and aggressive corporate union busting, that number is less than one in ten workers.
In Missouri, 234,000 people belonged to a union in 2024 and 255,000 were represented by a union, meaning 8.6% of the workforce were members and 9.3% were represented. Compare this to in 2023, when 9.3% were union members and 10.4% represented.
Missouri is a much larger state, by workforce population, than Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The BLS report suggests that Missouri has functionally as many active union members as the other three states combined.
Kansas, reportedly, shrunk from 8.9% of its workers as active union members in 2023 to just 6.3% in 2024 and 10.6% represented by a union in 2023 to just 8% in 2024.
A note about Kansas: The numbers from the report are so bleak, we believe there is an error. The report has Kansas losing approximately 37,000 union members out of the 120,000 union members it reportedly had in 2023, leaving it with just 83,000. This would represent an astonishing 30.1% loss in total union membership that simply could not happen without major loss of manufacturing in the state or decertifications that would be public information. This is, simply, not what happened.
The Labor Beacon consulted with labor statistics experts from other regions of the country who believe that the Kansas data is an anomaly due to how small the state is and labor leaders in Kansas who confirmed that no such shrinkage in membership has happened.
Kansas, reportedly, shrunk from 8.9% of its workers as active union members in 2023 to just 6.3% in 2024 and 10.6% represented by a union in 2023 to just 8% in 2024.
Iowa dropped from 7.2% of its workers in unions in 2023 to 6.4%. The state’s union members have suffered enormously from John Deere and other manufacturers who have turned their back on the American worker.
In 2024 in Nebraska, 6.8% of its workers were active union members compared to 7.3% in 2023. The number of workers who were represented by unions, but not active members, dropped from 2.1% to 1.3%.
In Arkansas, the state reportedly dropped from 5.1% unionized to just 3.5%. There is no way around this simple truth: the state is awful for workers. Nearly one in three workers makes less than $17 an hour. No unions, no money. The only state in the country that is worse for wages is Mississippi.
Importantly, only Missouri doesn’t have right-to-work-for-less laws on the books. Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa all are right-to-work-for-less states that allow freeloaders to benefit from union membership without paying their fair share.
The issue of “represented by unions” versus “union members” exists because of laws, both federally and locally, that allow people to freeload off of their union brothers and sisters dues. This problem is especially large for public unions, representing teachers, firefighters, and government workers.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement in response to the report:
“It’s plain as day that more working people want a union now than at any point in our lifetimes. Across our economy and in every part of the country, workers are standing together to demand fair treatment, better wages, and dignity and respect on the job. Our organizing has resulted in remarkable victories in traditional and emerging sectors like manufacturing, health care, clean energy, infrastructure, retail and restaurants, hospitality, and on college campuses, in technology, in public service and much more.
“Today’s BLS numbers don’t begin to tell the real story of the desire workers have to join a union. The number of union elections has doubled since 2021, boosted by efforts from the previous Biden administration to give workers a fair shot at joining a union. In 2024 alone, there were nearly 1,800 union elections, with workers winning the vast majority. Many of these victories are not reflected in the numbers released today because employers are exploiting a broken system to delay bargaining a first contract. But these wins—including an election for the first-ever Whole Foods union in Philadelphia just last night—are proof positive of working people’s incredible desire to join and form unions.
“Public approval for unions is at a nearly 70-year high because in an economy that continues to heavily tilt to the wealthy few and leaves workers behind, the only way to get ahead is by joining together. The recent successful organizing campaigns at places like Starbucks, Amazon, Volkswagen, and other massive corporations show workers’ momentum and hunger to join unions, no matter how many hurdles bosses and anti-union politicians throw our way. There are 60 million workers who would join a union today if given the opportunity, but between broken labor law and corporate bosses like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos engaging in often illegal union-busting every year with little consequence, far too few get that chance. It’s time for change.
“We call on the Trump administration to live up to its campaign promises to support workers by prioritizing fixing America’s broken labor law through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act. These bills would finally update our archaic, broken laws and give workers what we so desperately want: a free and fair shot at joining a union on the job.
“Our focus is simple: organizing and ensuring every worker in America who wants a union has the freedom to join one. Many unions are experiencing an all-time high in membership and continue to grow. The AFL-CIO is now nearly 15 million members strong with the recent affiliation of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the most unified labor movement we’ve seen in decades. This year, workers will continue to organize vigorously, flex our power through strikes and other workplace actions, and demand that corporate CEOs and politicians give us the respect we deserve.”
On January 29, 2025, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey issued the following statement:
“Despite macroeconomic headwinds, including high interest rates that provided challenges for project sponsors and investors, building trades union membership continues to rise. We proudly announce that NABTU affiliates achieved a net membership growth of 49,554 in 2024. This increase, combined with 2023’s record growth, marks the most significant consecutive expansion of the building trades since the 1950s.
“The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data confirms that the union membership rate in construction continues to outpace the overall labor market. However, it’s important to note that BLS estimates, based on small sample surveys, fail to capture the full picture of union construction. NABTU’s verified net gain of nearly 50,000 members in 2024, based on actual headcounts, represents real, documented growth, officially reported to the U.S. Department of Labor by each NABTU-affiliated union. This sustained increase reflects the steady market share expansion we have experienced since 2012.
“This surge in union membership within the construction trades secures the livelihoods of millions of working families and strengthens America’s middle class. Additionally, in 2024, the building trades had a record-breaking 314,958 apprentices enrolled in its registered apprenticeship programs nationwide. This unmatched workforce development investment rooted in collective bargaining with our contractor partners ensures a robust pipeline of the most highly skilled workers to meet industry demands. With a strong construction economy ahead, we remain confident in continuing this momentum – expanding opportunities for even more workers to join our ranks and building a stronger, more resilient workforce for generations to come.”
You can directly read the report here:
Highlights from the 2024 Data
- The union membership rate of public-sector workers (32.2 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers (5.9 percent).
- The highest unionization rates were among workers in education, training, and library occupations (32.3 percent) and protective service occupations (29.6 percent).
- Men continued to have a higher union membership rate (10.2 percent) than women (9.5 percent).
- Black workers remained more likely to be union members than White, Asian, and Hispanic workers.
- Nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 85 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($1,138 versus $1,337). (The comparisons of earnings in this news release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences.)
- Among states, Hawaii and New York had the highest union membership rates (26.5 percent and 20.6 percent, respectively), while the lowest rates were in North Carolina (2.4 percent), South Dakota (2.7 percent), and South Carolina (2.8 percent).
Industry and Occupation of Union Members
In 2024, the number of employees who belonged to unions was similar in the public sector (7.0 million) and the private sector (7.2 million). The number of private-sector union members declined by 184,000 in 2024, offsetting the increase in 2023. The number of public-sector union members changed little in 2024.
The public-sector union membership rate, at 32.2 percent, also changed little over the year. The union membership rate continued to be highest in local government (38.2 percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, firefighters, and teachers.
The union membership rate in the private sector declined by 0.1 percentage point over the year to 5.9 percent. Industries with the highest unionization rates in 2024 included utilities (18.7 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.8 percent), and educational services (13.2 percent). The lowest unionization rates occurred in finance (0.8 percent), insurance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.2 percent), agricultural and related industries (1.4 percent), and food services and drinking places (1.6 percent).
Among occupational groups, the highest union membership rates in 2024 were in education, training, and library occupations (32.3 percent), protective service occupations (29.6 percent), and construction and extraction occupations (15.4 percent). Membership rates were lowest in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (1.5 percent) and in sales and related occupations (2.7 percent).
Selected Characteristics of Union Members
In 2024, the unionization rate for women was unchanged over the year at 9.5 percent, and the number of women who were union members changed little at 6.6 million. Meanwhile, the unionization rate for men declined by 0.3 percentage point to 10.2 percent, and the number of men who were union members declined by 216,000 to 7.6 million. The gap between union membership rates for men and women has narrowed considerably since 1983, when rates for men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively.
Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2024 (11.8 percent) than White workers (9.6 percent), Asian workers (8.5 percent), and Hispanic workers (8.5 percent). Over the year, the union membership rate was unchanged for Black workers, while it declined for White (-0.2 percentage point) and Hispanic (-0.5 percentage point) workers. The rate increased by 0.7 percentage point for Asian workers.
By age, workers ages 45 to 54 had the highest union membership rate in 2024, at 12.6 percent. Younger workers—those ages 16 to 24—had the lowest union membership rate, at 4.3 percent.
In 2024, the union membership rate continued to be higher for full-time workers (10.7 percent) than for part-time workers (5.7 percent). Over the year, the rate for full-time workers declined by 0.2 percentage point, while the rate for part-time workers increased by 0.5 percentage point.
Union Representation
In 2024, 16.0 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, little changed from 2023. The percentage of workers represented by a union was 11.1 percent in 2024, also little different than a year earlier. Workers represented by a union include both union members (14.3 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.8 million).
Earnings
Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $1,337 in 2024, while nonunion workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,138. In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences reflect a variety of factors, including variations in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, age, firm size, or geographic region.
Union Membership by State
In 2024, 30 states had union membership rates below the U.S. average (9.9 percent), while 20 states and the District of Columbia had rates above it. All states in both the East South Central and West South Central divisions had union membership rates below the national average, while all states in both the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions had rates above it.
Ten states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2024. North Carolina had the lowest rate (2.4 percent). The next lowest rates were in South Dakota and South Carolina (2.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively). Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2024: Hawaii (26.5 percent) and New York (20.6 percent).
In 2024, about 29 percent of the 14.3 million union members lived in just two states (California at 2.4 million and New York at 1.7 million). However, these two states accounted for 17 percent of wage and salary employment nationally.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
