Table 4: Union membership and union coverage, 12-months ending December, 2019 to 2024
By selected characteristics
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
Gender Male 12.0% 12.3% 11.9% 11.6% 11.6% 11.3% −0.3 −0.7
Female 11.0% 11.8% 11.3% 10.9% 10.7% 10.8% 0.1 −0.2
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 11.9% 12.3% 12.0% 11.6% 11.4% 11.2% −0.2 −0.7
Black 12.3% 13.6% 12.8% 12.6% 13.1% 13.1% −0.1 0.8
Hispanic 10.2% 11.0% 10.3% 10.1% 10.0% 9.7% −0.3 −0.4
AAPI 10.6% 10.3% 9.5% 9.7% 9.6% 10.1% 0.5 −0.4
Other 10.8% 9.1% 9.0% 10.0% 8.7% 10.0% 1.3 −0.8
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 11.5% 12.0% 11.6% 11.2% 11.1% 10.8% −0.2 −0.7
Black 12.7% 13.9% 12.9% 12.8% 13.1% 13.2% 0.1 0.5
Hispanic 10.2% 11.0% 10.3% 10.1% 10.0% 9.7% −0.3 −0.4
Asian 10.0% 9.9% 9.0% 9.2% 9.0% 9.8% 0.8 −0.2
Age 16-24 5.2% 5.1% 5.2% 5.2% 5.1% 5.3% 0.2 0.1
25-34 10.2% 11.0% 10.7% 10.2% 10.2% 9.9% −0.3 −0.3
35-44 13.1% 13.4% 12.7% 12.4% 12.4% 12.2% −0.2 −0.9
45-54 13.9% 14.6% 14.5% 14.1% 14.0% 13.8% −0.3 −0.1
55-64 14.0% 14.6% 13.6% 13.4% 13.3% 13.0% −0.2 −1.0
65 & up 10.9% 10.1% 9.9% 10.4% 9.7% 10.2% 0.4 −0.8
Membership (%)
All 10.3% 10.8% 10.3% 10.1% 10.0% 9.9% −0.1 −0.4
Gender Male 10.8% 11.0% 10.6% 10.5% 10.4% 10.2% −0.2 −0.6
Female 9.7% 10.5% 9.9% 9.6% 9.5% 9.5% 0.0 −0.2
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 10.7% 11.0% 10.7% 10.4% 10.1% 10.0% −0.1 −0.7
Black 10.9% 12.1% 11.5% 11.4% 11.9% 11.7% −0.2 0.8
Hispanic 8.9% 9.8% 9.0% 8.9% 9.0% 8.5% −0.5 −0.3
AAPI 9.4% 9.3% 8.2% 8.8% 8.3% 8.9% 0.6 −0.4
Other 9.7% 8.0% 8.4% 8.1% 7.8% 9.6% 1.7 −0.1
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 10.3% 10.7% 10.3% 10.0% 9.8% 9.6% −0.2 −0.7
Black 11.2% 12.3% 11.5% 11.5% 11.8% 11.8% 0.0 0.6
Hispanic 8.9% 9.8% 9.0% 8.9% 9.0% 8.5% −0.5 −0.3
Asian 8.8% 8.9% 7.7% 8.3% 7.8% 8.5% 0.7 −0.2
Age 16-24 4.4% 4.4% 4.2% 4.4% 4.3% 4.2% −0.1 −0.2
25-34 8.8% 9.8% 9.4% 9.0% 9.0% 8.8% −0.2 0.0
35-44 11.8% 12.2% 11.3% 11.1% 11.1% 10.8% −0.2 −0.9
45-54 12.5% 13.1% 13.1% 12.6% 12.7% 12.5% −0.2 0.0
55-64 12.7% 13.1% 12.1% 12.1% 12.0% 11.8% −0.2 −0.9
65 & up 9.8% 8.9% 8.7% 9.2% 8.6% 9.0% 0.4 −0.8
Coverage
All 16,375,000 15,936,000 15,795,000 15,996,000 16,186,000 16,015,000 −172,000 −360,000
Gender Male 8,840,000 8,429,000 8,407,000 8,551,000 8,725,000 8,470,000 −255,000 −369,000
Female 7,535,000 7,507,000 7,388,000 7,445,000 7,461,000 7,544,000 83,000 9,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 10,343,000 9,983,000 9,958,000 9,859,000 9,740,000 9,500,000 −240,000 −843,000
Black 2,205,000 2,269,000 2,207,000 2,303,000 2,488,000 2,476,000 −12,000 271,000
Hispanic 2,585,000 2,587,000 2,548,000 2,653,000 2,744,000 2,747,000 2,000 161,000
AAPI 1,074,000 974,000 949,000 1,030,000 1,079,000 1,136,000 56,000 61,000
Other 168,000 123,000 133,000 151,000 135,000 157,000 22,000 −11,000
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 12,579,000 12,222,000 12,140,000 12,113,000 12,127,000 11,840,000 −287,000 −740,000
Black 2,308,000 2,321,000 2,229,000 2,369,000 2,507,000 2,521,000 14,000 214,000
Hispanic 2,585,000 2,587,000 2,548,000 2,653,000 2,744,000 2,747,000 2,000 161,000
Asian 930,000 852,000 818,000 881,000 902,000 994,000 92,000 65,000
Age 16-24 985,000 858,000 941,000 974,000 1,013,000 1,021,000 9,000 37,000
25-34 3,450,000 3,461,000 3,459,000 3,353,000 3,432,000 3,315,000 −117,000 −135,000
35-44 3,911,000 3,827,000 3,727,000 3,833,000 3,926,000 3,958,000 32,000 47,000
45-54 3,910,000 3,849,000 3,886,000 3,910,000 3,956,000 3,872,000 −84,000 −38,000
55-64 3,259,000 3,200,000 3,031,000 3,094,000 3,053,000 2,971,000 −82,000 −288,000
65 & up 860,000 740,000 752,000 832,000 807,000 877,000 70,000 17,000
Membership
All 14,567,000 14,250,000 14,004,000 14,280,000 14,415,000 14,245,000 −170,000 −321,000
Gender Male 7,945,000 7,580,000 7,514,000 7,771,000 7,841,000 7,630,000 −211,000 −315,000
Female 6,621,000 6,670,000 6,490,000 6,510,000 6,574,000 6,615,000 41,000 −6,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 9,247,000 8,939,000 8,866,000 8,802,000 8,642,000 8,475,000 −167,000 −772,000
Black 1,964,000 2,010,000 1,975,000 2,084,000 2,250,000 2,214,000 −36,000 250,000
Hispanic 2,254,000 2,317,000 2,219,000 2,337,000 2,463,000 2,407,000 −56,000 153,000
AAPI 950,000 875,000 819,000 935,000 938,000 998,000 60,000 48,000
Other 151,000 109,000 125,000 123,000 122,000 151,000 29,000 0
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 11,205,000 10,943,000 10,769,000 10,794,000 10,773,000 10,506,000 −266,000 −698,000
Black 2,040,000 2,056,000 1,990,000 2,135,000 2,260,000 2,264,000 4,000 223,000
Hispanic 2,254,000 2,317,000 2,219,000 2,337,000 2,463,000 2,407,000 −56,000 153,000
Asian 816,000 764,000 705,000 800,000 785,000 867,000 82,000 51,000
Age 16-24 834,000 733,000 751,000 827,000 858,000 816,000 −41,000 −18,000
25-34 2,962,000 3,077,000 3,052,000 2,968,000 3,008,000 2,935,000 −73,000 −27,000
35-44 3,523,000 3,468,000 3,310,000 3,444,000 3,511,000 3,509,000 −2,000 −13,000
45-54 3,530,000 3,453,000 3,525,000 3,508,000 3,568,000 3,514,000 −55,000 −17,000
55-64 2,947,000 2,865,000 2,699,000 2,798,000 2,750,000 2,690,000 −61,000 −257,000
65 & up 770,000 654,000 667,000 736,000 719,000 781,000 62,000 11,000
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
Gender Male 73,368,000 68,733,000 70,756,000 73,690,000 75,094,000 74,808,000 −287,000 1,439,000
Female 68,398,000 63,472,000 65,664,000 68,009,000 69,473,000 69,735,000 262,000 1,337,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 86,640,000 81,213,000 83,045,000 84,878,000 85,470,000 84,614,000 −856,000 −2,026,000
Black 17,992,000 16,642,000 17,198,000 18,287,000 18,931,000 18,932,000 1,000 940,000
Hispanic 25,423,000 23,567,000 24,727,000 26,394,000 27,367,000 28,221,000 854,000 2,799,000
AAPI 10,157,000 9,429,000 9,968,000 10,622,000 11,240,000 11,202,000 −37,000 1,045,000
Other 1,554,000 1,355,000 1,482,000 1,518,000 1,560,000 1,574,000 14,000 19,000
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 109,157,000 102,155,000 104,942,000 108,251,000 109,706,000 109,495,000 −211,000 338,000
Black 18,232,000 16,734,000 17,340,000 18,501,000 19,185,000 19,150,000 −35,000 918,000
Hispanic 25,423,000 23,567,000 24,727,000 26,394,000 27,367,000 28,221,000 854,000 2,799,000
Asian 9,298,000 8,580,000 9,122,000 9,610,000 10,047,000 10,146,000 99,000 848,000
Age 16-24 18,867,000 16,752,000 18,091,000 18,814,000 19,766,000 19,211,000 −554,000 345,000
25-34 33,728,000 31,446,000 32,356,000 33,030,000 33,589,000 33,409,000 −180,000 −319,000
35-44 29,903,000 28,490,000 29,273,000 30,960,000 31,733,000 32,397,000 665,000 2,495,000
45-54 28,197,000 26,347,000 26,842,000 27,753,000 28,181,000 28,092,000 −89,000 −105,000
55-64 23,206,000 21,846,000 22,230,000 23,130,000 22,981,000 22,793,000 −188,000 −414,000
65 & up 7,866,000 7,325,000 7,630,000 8,011,000 8,317,000 8,641,000 323,000 775,000
Sample size
All 154,727 133,671 134,177 129,714 125,755 125,586
Gender Male 78,633 68,252 68,586 66,361 64,079 64,060
Female 76,094 65,419 65,591 63,353 61,676 61,526
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 104,491 91,644 89,917 85,487 82,151 81,427
Black 15,570 13,234 13,657 13,218 12,696 12,160
Hispanic 22,427 18,331 19,641 19,882 20,031 20,910
AAPI 10,236 8,842 9,293 9,512 9,276 9,503
Other 2,003 1,620 1,669 1,615 1,601 1,586
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 124,948 108,361 107,668 103,483 100,355 100,364
Black 15,566 13,181 13,689 13,247 12,710 12,207
Hispanic 22,427 18,331 19,641 19,882 20,031 20,910
Asian 9,027 7,833 8,295 8,338 8,042 8,374
Age 16-24 18,696 15,210 16,139 15,440 15,174 15,109
25-34 34,093 28,809 29,376 28,324 27,207 27,045
35-44 33,172 29,094 29,390 28,632 27,722 28,161
45-54 31,451 27,351 26,859 25,785 25,084 24,895
55-64 27,428 24,275 23,513 22,638 21,606 21,212
65 & up 9,887 8,932 8,900 8,895 8,962 9,164
* Many estimates here and in the final published BLS report are subject to substantial sampling error due to small underlying sample sizes.
** The EPI race/ethnicity categories in this table are mutually exclusive (i.e., white non-Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic any race). Data here will not match published BLS data because the BLS categories are not mutually exclusive.
*** The BLS race/ethnicity categories in this table are not mutually exclusive (i.e., white, Black, and Hispanic overlapping any race) to more closely match published BLS data.
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.