| Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment | ||||||
| Among All Wage and Salary Workers, 1973-2006 | ||||||
| Year | Obs | Employment | Members | Covered | %Mem | %Cov |
| 1973 | 49,095 | 75,519.3 | 18,088.6 | -- | 24.0 | -- |
| 1974 | 48,245 | 77,101.1 | 18,176.5 | -- | 23.6 | -- |
| 1975 | 46,488 | 75,703.9 | 16,778.3 | -- | 22.2 | -- |
| 1976 | 47,648 | 78,776.9 | 17,403.0 | -- | 22.1 | -- |
| 1977 | 57,191 | 81,334.1 | 19,335.1 | 21,534.6 | 23.8 | 26.5 |
| 1978 | 57,322 | 84,967.6 | 19,548.4 | 21,897.5 | 23.0 | 25.8 |
| 1979 | 58,080 | 87,116.6 | 20,986.1 | 23,540.1 | 24.1 | 27.0 |
| 1980 | 68,594 | 87,479.5 | 20,095.3 | 22,493.4 | 23.0 | 25.7 |
| 1981 | 15,433 | 89,518.2 | 19,123.4 | 21,434.4 | 21.4 | 23.9 |
| 1982 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 1983 | 173,932 | 88,289.5 | 17,717.4 | 20,532.1 | 20.1 | 23.3 |
| 1984 | 177,248 | 92,194.2 | 17,339.8 | 19,931.5 | 18.8 | 21.6 |
| 1985 | 180,232 | 94,520.5 | 16,996.1 | 19,358.1 | 18.0 | 20.5 |
| 1986 | 179,147 | 96,902.6 | 16,975.2 | 19,277.8 | 17.5 | 19.9 |
| 1987 | 180,434 | 99,302.7 | 16,913.1 | 19,051.0 | 17.0 | 19.2 |
| 1988 | 173,118 | 101,407.4 | 17,001.7 | 19,241.3 | 16.8 | 19.0 |
| 1989 | 176,411 | 103,479.6 | 16,960.5 | 19,197.6 | 16.4 | 18.6 |
| 1990 | 185,030 | 103,904.8 | 16,739.8 | 19,057.8 | 16.1 | 18.3 |
| 1991 | 179,560 | 102,786.3 | 16,568.4 | 18,733.8 | 16.1 | 18.2 |
| 1992 | 176,846 | 103,688.3 | 16,390.3 | 18,540.1 | 15.8 | 17.9 |
| 1993 | 174,595 | 105,067.4 | 16,598.1 | 18,646.4 | 15.8 | 17.7 |
| 1994 | 170,804 | 107,987.7 | 16,740.3 | 18,842.5 | 15.5 | 17.4 |
| 1995 | 170,307 | 110,038.1 | 16,359.6 | 18,346.3 | 14.9 | 16.7 |
| 1996 | 152,188 | 111,959.7 | 16,269.4 | 18,158.1 | 14.5 | 16.2 |
| 1997 | 154,955 | 114,533.0 | 16,109.9 | 17,923.0 | 14.1 | 15.6 |
| 1998 | 156,990 | 116,729.9 | 16,211.4 | 17,918.3 | 13.9 | 15.4 |
| 1999 | 159,378 | 118,963.5 | 16,476.7 | 18,182.3 | 13.9 | 15.3 |
| 2000 | 161,126 | 120,785.6 | 16,258.2 | 17,944.1 | 13.5 | 14.9 |
| 2001 | 171,533 | 120,707.6 | 16,288.8 | 17,878.1 | 13.5 | 14.8 |
| 2002 | 184,137 | 119,979.2 | 15,978.7 | 17,501.6 | 13.3 | 14.6 |
| 2003 | 180,830 | 122,357.9 | 15,776.0 | 17,448.4 | 12.9 | 14.3 |
| 2004 | 177,858 | 123,553.9 | 15,471.6 | 17,087.3 | 12.5 | 13.8 |
| 2005 | 179,148 | 125,889.3 | 15,685.4 | 17,223.4 | 12.5 | 13.7 |
| 2006 | 178,661 | 128,237.2 | 15,359.1 | 16,860.2 | 12.0 | 13.1 |
| Data sources: For the years 1973-81 the May Current Population (CPS). For the years | ||||||
| 1983-2006 the CPS Outgoing Rotation Group (ORG) Earnings Files. There were no | ||||||
| union questions in the 1982 CPS. Sample includes wage and salary workers, ages | ||||||
| 16 and over. Variable definitions are: Obs=CPS sample size; Employment=wage and | ||||||
| salary employment in thousands, Members=employed workers who are union members | ||||||
| in thousands, Covered=workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement in | ||||||
| thousands, %Mem=percent of employed workers who are union members, and | ||||||
| %Cov=percent of employed workers who are covered by a collective bargaining | ||||||
| agreement. The definition of union membership was expanded in 1977 to include | ||||||
| "employee associations similar to a union". | ||||||
| © 2007 by Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson. The use of data requires citation. | ||||||