Table 1: Union membership and union coverage, 12-months ending December, 2019 to 2024
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Change
2024-2023 2024-2019
Coverage (%)
All 11.6% 12.1% 11.6% 11.3% 11.2% 11.1% −0.1 −0.5
Private sector 7.1% 7.2% 7.0% 6.8% 6.8% 6.7% −0.2 −0.4
Public sector 37.2% 38.4% 37.6% 36.8% 36.0% 35.7% −0.2 −1.4
Federal 30.5% 30.0% 29.1% 28.2% 29.0% 29.9% 0.9 −0.6
State and local 38.7% 40.3% 39.5% 38.7% 37.6% 37.1% −0.5 −1.5
State 32.3% 33.7% 33.1% 33.2% 32.0% 31.4% −0.6 −0.9
Local 43.0% 45.1% 43.9% 42.7% 41.8% 41.4% −0.4 −1.6
Membership (%)
All 10.3% 10.8% 10.3% 10.1% 10.0% 9.9% −0.1 −0.4
Private sector 6.2% 6.3% 6.1% 6.0% 6.0% 5.9% −0.1 −0.3
Public sector 33.6% 34.8% 33.9% 33.2% 32.5% 32.2% −0.3 −1.4
Federal 25.6% 26.0% 24.9% 24.4% 25.1% 25.3% 0.2 −0.3
State and local 35.3% 36.8% 35.9% 35.2% 34.2% 33.8% −0.4 −1.6
State 29.4% 29.9% 29.6% 30.0% 28.6% 27.9% −0.7 −1.5
Local 39.4% 41.8% 40.2% 38.8% 38.4% 38.2% −0.2 −1.2
Coverage
All 16,375,000 15,936,000 15,795,000 15,996,000 16,186,000 16,015,000 −172,000 −360,000
Private sector 8,562,000 8,021,000 8,050,000 8,164,000 8,424,000 8,215,000 −209,000 −347,000
Public sector 7,813,000 7,915,000 7,745,000 7,832,000 7,763,000 7,800,000 37,000 −13,000
Federal 1,156,000 1,165,000 1,109,000 1,123,000 1,193,000 1,247,000 54,000 92,000
State and local 6,657,000 6,750,000 6,637,000 6,710,000 6,569,000 6,552,000 −17,000 −105,000
State 2,249,000 2,347,000 2,272,000 2,373,000 2,375,000 2,361,000 −14,000 113,000
Local 4,409,000 4,403,000 4,364,000 4,337,000 4,194,000 4,191,000 −3,000 −217,000
Membership
All 14,567,000 14,250,000 14,004,000 14,280,000 14,415,000 14,245,000 −170,000 −321,000
Private sector 7,508,000 7,082,000 7,026,000 7,219,000 7,408,000 7,229,000 −179,000 −279,000
Public sector 7,059,000 7,168,000 6,978,000 7,061,000 7,007,000 7,017,000 10,000 −42,000
Federal 972,000 1,012,000 950,000 970,000 1,032,000 1,056,000 24,000 84,000
State and local 6,087,000 6,156,000 6,027,000 6,091,000 5,975,000 5,961,000 −14,000 −126,000
State 2,043,000 2,083,000 2,032,000 2,144,000 2,121,000 2,094,000 −27,000 51,000
Local 4,044,000 4,073,000 3,996,000 3,947,000 3,855,000 3,867,000 13,000 −177,000
Total employment
All 141,766,000 132,205,000 136,421,000 141,698,000 144,567,000 144,543,000 −24,000 2,777,000
Private sector 120,755,000 111,587,000 115,807,000 120,400,000 122,994,000 122,722,000 −272,000 1,967,000
Public sector 21,011,000 20,618,000 20,613,000 21,298,000 21,573,000 21,821,000 248,000 809,000
Federal 3,792,000 3,888,000 3,814,000 3,982,000 4,109,000 4,169,000 60,000 377,000
State and local 17,219,000 16,730,000 16,799,000 17,317,000 17,464,000 17,652,000 188,000 433,000
State 6,956,000 6,975,000 6,862,000 7,156,000 7,419,000 7,517,000 98,000 561,000
Local 10,263,000 9,754,000 9,937,000 10,161,000 10,045,000 10,135,000 90,000 −128,000
Sample size
All 154,727 133,671 134,177 129,714 125,755 125,586
Private sector 129,865 111,050 112,246 108,688 105,475 105,239
Public sector 24,862 22,621 21,931 21,026 20,280 20,347
Federal 4,812 4,703 4,478 4,367 4,224 4,269
State and local 20,050 17,918 17,453 16,659 16,056 16,078
State 8,652 7,969 7,681 7,389 7,314 7,349
Local 11,398 9,949 9,772 9,270 8,742 8,729
* Many estimates here and in the final published BLS report are subject to substantial sampling error due to small underlying sample sizes.
Note: Workers 16 and older; excludes self-employed and self-incorporated. Changes may not match exactly due to rounding.
Source: Economic Policy Institute. 2022. Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.60, https://microdata.epi.org.