Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment
Among Private Sector Manufacturing Workers, 1973-2006
Year	Obs	Employment	Members	Covered	%Mem	%Cov
1973	13,108	20,107.6	7,827.7	--	38.9	--
1974	12,865	20,480.9	7,759.7	--	37.9	--
1975	11,377	18,477.2	6,656.8	--	36.0	--
1976	11,832	19,523.1	6,958.8	--	35.6	--
1977	13,316	20,030.0	7,118.5	7,527.6	35.5	37.6
1978	13,148	20,677.4	7,076.8	7,589.3	34.2	36.7
1979	13,389	21,238.2	7,509.5	8,115.8	35.4	38.2
1980	15,011	20,850.4	6,726.0	7,251.9	32.3	34.8
1981	3,423	21,281.2	6,665.9	7,188.2	31.3	33.8
1982	--	--	--	--	--	--
1983	35,436	19,066.1	5,302.8	5,811.7	27.8	30.5
1984	36,897	20,206.9	5,250.4	5,729.4	26.0	28.4
1985	36,967	20,120.1	4,996.3	5,421.9	24.8	26.9
1986	36,231	20,295.8	4,869.4	5,230.8	24.0	25.8
1987	35,739	20,235.3	4,691.0	5,007.6	23.2	24.7
1988	33,803	20,430.0	4,516.0	4,853.8	22.1	23.8
1989	34,276	20,690.4	4,467.3	4,778.9	21.6	23.1
1990	35,064	20,338.6	4,197.3	4,514.1	20.6	22.2
1991	33,183	19,589.5	3,975.7	4,269.3	20.3	21.8
1992	31,814	19,076.2	3,749.0	4,004.6	19.7	21.0
1993	30,579	18,710.1	3,591.8	3,805.8	19.2	20.3
1994	29,818	19,271.2	3,510.7	3,783.8	18.2	19.6
1995	29,303	19,520.0	3,439.6	3,657.3	17.6	18.7
1996	25,388	19,653.4	3,387.4	3,602.6	17.2	18.3
1997	25,707	19,961.2	3,253.4	3,440.8	16.3	17.2
1998	25,291	19,762.5	3,127.2	3,315.0	15.8	16.8
1999	24,741	19,322.9	3,024.0	3,209.1	15.6	16.6
2000	24,394	19,167.3	2,831.8	2,999.4	14.8	15.6
2001	24,658	18,147.1	2,658.1	2,807.0	14.6	15.5
2002	25,001	16,918.2	2,427.1	2,557.1	14.3	15.1
2003	22,872	16,129.8	2,172.9	2,313.7	13.5	14.3
2004	21,897	15,753.5	2,036.2	2,183.1	12.9	13.9
2005	21,431	15,518.4	2,016.9	2,127.3	13.0	13.7
2006	20,943	15,642.6	1,827.0	1,948.8	11.7	12.5
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.