January 25, 2007 (Union Byte)
Union Rates Fall in 2006, Severe Drop in Manufacturing
For Immediate Release: January 25, 2007
Contact: Lynn Erskine, 202-293-5380 x 115
Union Byte by John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer
For the first time in U.S. history, union membership rates were
lower in manufacturing than in the rest of the economy.
Union
membership declined sharply in 2006, from 12.5 percent of all workers in both
2004 and 2005, to just 12.0 percent of all workers last year, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics annual union membership report released today.
Overall, the number of U.S. workers in a union fell last year by 326,000
workers, to 15.4 million workers in 2006.
The
largest decrease in union membership rates occurred in manufacturing, where
union membership dropped 1.3 percentage points to just 11.7 percent of
manufacturing workers. For the first time since the BLS began tracking these
trends, and likely for the first time in U.S. history, union membership rates
were lower in manufacturing (11.7 percent) than in the rest of the economy
(12.0 percent).
In
addition to losses in manufacturing, very few segments of the private sector
reported gains in unionization. Union membership in the private sector slid in 2006
to only 7.4 percent. Among public-sector workers, membership also fell (down
0.3 percentage points), but, at 36.2 percent, remained at levels consistent
with those over the last two decades. Public-sector union jobs in 2006
accounted for almost half of union members, even though public-sector
employment comprised less than one-fifth of the economy.
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