Business
Union memberships dropped to an all-time low in 2022
The number of U.S. workers that belong to a union dropped from 10.3% to 10.1% last year, the lowest figure since the agency started tracking the data almost 40 years ago
January 19, 2023 9:04pm
Updated: February 19, 2023 9:16am
Union memberships in the United States dropped to an all-time low despite organizing efforts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Thursday.
The number of U.S. workers that belong to a union dropped from 10.3% to 10.1% last year, the lowest figure since the agency started tracking the data almost 40 years ago.
The number of workers who are part of unions grew by 1.9% from 2021, according to the data. In comparison, the job market added non-unionized workers at a faster rate than unionized workers, growing by 3.9%, the Bureau reported.
"This disproportionately large increase in the number of total wage and salary employment compared with the increase in the number of union members led to a decrease in the union membership rate," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a statement.
The decline in union membership comes despite the widespread approval of unions in the nation. According to a Gallup poll published earlier this year, 71% of Americans view unions favorably—the highest union approval rate in decades.
Throughout 2022, workers launched several high-profile unionization drives across the nation. However, the data seems to point that the efforts have not translated into a greater representation of the workforce, Reuters reported.
The opponents of unions claim that the Bureau’s statistics are proof that organized labor is declining in the nation.
“The BLS numbers are another reminder that headlines from cheerleading reporters and influence in the halls of power in DC are no substitute for actual support among hardworking rank-and-file American workers,” National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens said.
“Union officials artificially increase their influence in ways that no other private organization can, but they do so while trampling the rights of the very workers they claim to speak for by forcing workers under ‘representation’ they oppose and seeking to force workers to pay up or be fired. For a worker considering unionization, that’s not a winning message,” Semmens said.
