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The Short Answer
What Percentage of U.S. Workers Belong to a Labor Union?
The Short Answer

What Percentage of U.S. Workers Belong to a Labor Union?

Editor's Note: This article was revised on Nov. 20, 2024, with Â鶹´«Ã½AV's latest data pertaining to labor unions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nine percent of U.S. workers employed full or part time belong to a labor union, according to recent Â鶹´«Ã½AV polling.

More generally, 8% of all U.S. adults -- working and nonworking -- say they hold labor union membership, while 14% of U.S. adults live in a union household.

An analysis of Â鶹´«Ã½AV's 2023-2024 Work and Education surveys finds the following demographic differences in union membership among U.S. workers:

  • A little more than one in four workers employed by the government (28%) belong to a union, versus 6% of all private-sector employees.
  • Workers in the South are the least likely of any U.S. region to report labor union membership, at 3%. That is less than half of the percentages reported by employees in the East (15%), Midwest (9%) and West (12%).
  • Eleven percent of workers reporting an annual household income of $100,000 or more are members of a union, compared with 7% of those in households earning between $40,000 and $99,999 annually and 3% in households earning less than $40,000 per year.
  • Across age groups, union membership is lower among the youngest workers, at 5% among those aged 18 to 34, compared with 10% of workers aged 35 to 54 and 11% of those 55 and older.
  • The more educated an employee is, the more likely they are to be a union worker. The rate is highest, at 15%, among workers with a postgraduate education. Workers with a high school diploma or less (5%) are the least likely to be union members.
  • There are no significant differences in labor union membership across gender or political party groups.
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Â鶹´«Ã½AV measures labor union membership each August as part of its Work and Education poll -- one of 12 surveys that make up the .

Explore more Â鶹´«Ã½AV articles about labor unions on the Unions Topics page.

Explore Â鶹´«Ã½AV questions and trends about labor unions on Â鶹´«Ã½AV's Topics A-Z: Labor Unions page.

For more articles in the "Short Answer" series, visit Â鶹´«Ã½AV's The Short Answer page.


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