On Friday, Jan., 24, 2014, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on unionization statistics in the U.S. for 2013. There were a number of findings in the report, but things remained relatively unchanged from 2012. Here are some of the highlights:
1. The overall percentage of U.S. workers belonging to labor unions in 2013 remained at 11.3 percent (the same overall percentage as 2012). 2. The overall percentage of private-sector union employees rose slightly from 6.6 percent in 2012 to 6.7 percent in 2013. 3. The overall percentage of public-sector workers who were in a union, however, decreased by 0.6 percent from 35.9 percent in 2012 to 35.3 percent in 2013. Despite this slight decline, public-sector employees are still five times more likely to be in a union than their private-sector counterparts. 4. Workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective service occupations had the highest unionization rate, at 35.3 percent for each occupation group. 5. Men had a higher union membership rate (11.9 percent) than women (10.5 percent). 6. Among states, New York continued to have the highest union membership rate (24.4 percent), and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.0 percent).A fully copy of the report can be accessed here.
