Table 3: Union membership and union coverage, January to December, 2019 to 2022
State and local government
2019 2020 2021 2022 Change
2022-2021 2022-2019
Coverage (%)
State and local government 38.7% 40.3% 39.5% 38.7% −0.8 0.1
Education 43.1% 45.7% 44.8% 43.8% −1.0 0.7
K-12, Teachers 58.6% 62.7% 61.1% 59.1% −2.1 0.5
K-12, Non-teachers 37.9% 38.9% 38.0% 38.0% 0.0 0.1
Not K-12 20.9% 23.2% 23.5% 22.3% −1.1 1.4
Non-education 33.9% 35.0% 34.2% 33.8% −0.4 −0.1
Membership (%)
State and local government 35.3% 36.8% 35.9% 35.2% −0.7 −0.2
Education 38.9% 41.3% 40.0% 39.3% −0.7 0.4
K-12, Teachers 53.5% 57.2% 55.4% 54.2% −1.3 0.7
K-12, Non-teachers 33.8% 34.9% 33.5% 33.1% −0.4 −0.7
Not K-12 18.5% 20.1% 20.1% 19.5% −0.6 1.0
Non-education 31.5% 32.3% 31.7% 31.1% −0.6 −0.4
Coverage
State and local government 6,657,000 6,750,000 6,637,000 6,710,000 73,000 53,000
Education 3,834,000 3,836,000 3,793,000 3,768,000 −24,000 −66,000
K-12, Teachers 2,269,000 2,284,000 2,200,000 2,183,000 −17,000 −86,000
K-12, Non-teachers 1,148,000 1,113,000 1,173,000 1,184,000 11,000 36,000
Not K-12 417,000 439,000 419,000 401,000 −18,000 −16,000
Non-education 2,823,000 2,914,000 2,844,000 2,941,000 97,000 118,000
Membership
State and local government 6,087,000 6,156,000 6,027,000 6,091,000 63,000 4,000
Education 3,464,000 3,465,000 3,388,000 3,383,000 −6,000 −81,000
K-12, Teachers 2,072,000 2,085,000 1,994,000 2,002,000 8,000 −70,000
K-12, Non-teachers 1,024,000 1,000,000 1,035,000 1,030,000 −5,000 7,000
Not K-12 368,000 381,000 358,000 350,000 −8,000 −18,000
Non-education 2,623,000 2,690,000 2,639,000 2,708,000 69,000 85,000
Total employment
State and local government 17,219,000 16,730,000 16,799,000 17,317,000 517,000 97,000
Education 8,896,000 8,399,000 8,474,000 8,609,000 135,000 −287,000
K-12, Teachers 3,874,000 3,642,000 3,599,000 3,696,000 98,000 −177,000
K-12, Non-teachers 3,031,000 2,863,000 3,089,000 3,115,000 25,000 84,000
Not K-12 1,991,000 1,894,000 1,786,000 1,798,000 12,000 −194,000
Non-education 8,323,000 8,331,000 8,325,000 8,708,000 382,000 384,000
Sample size
State and local government 20,050 17,918 17,453 16,659
Education 10,360 9,053 8,812 8,364
K-12, Teachers 4,528 3,876 3,689 3,537
K-12, Non-teachers 3,590 3,156 3,236 3,075
Not K-12 2,242 2,021 1,887 1,752
Non-education 9,690 8,865 8,641 8,295
* Many estimates here and in the final published BLS report are subject to substantial sampling error due to small underlying sample sizes. These potential errors are, by definition, larger for less than full-year estimates.
Note: Workers 16 and older; excludes self-employed and self-incorporated. Changes may not match exactly due to rounding.
Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group Extracts, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.32 (2022), https://microdata.epi.org.