8
Table 4b: Union membership and union coverage within the public sector, 12-months ending December, 2019 to 2023
By selected characteristics
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Change
2023-2022 2023-2019
Coverage (%)
All 37.2% 38.4% 37.6% 36.8% 36.0% −0.8 −1.2
Gender Male 37.7% 38.5% 38.3% 37.7% 37.5% −0.2 −0.2
Female 36.8% 38.3% 37.0% 36.1% 34.8% −1.2 −2.0
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 38.4% 39.2% 38.6% 37.6% 36.9% −0.8 −1.5
Black 30.9% 34.7% 34.3% 32.7% 32.4% −0.3 1.5
Hispanic 39.1% 39.5% 38.6% 39.0% 37.8% −1.2 −1.3
AAPI 40.1% 41.8% 36.7% 37.8% 36.1% −1.7 −4.0
Other 23.9% 19.1% 21.1% 20.3% 21.5% 1.2 −2.4
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 38.4% 39.1% 38.5% 37.8% 36.9% −0.9 −1.6
Black 31.5% 35.3% 34.1% 32.7% 32.3% −0.4 0.8
Hispanic 39.1% 39.5% 38.6% 39.0% 37.8% −1.2 −1.3
Asian 38.4% 41.4% 36.1% 37.0% 34.7% −2.2 −3.6
Age 16-24 19.6% 21.6% 22.9% 18.8% 20.2% 1.4 0.6
25-34 37.0% 38.7% 37.2% 37.6% 34.8% −2.8 −2.2
35-44 41.2% 42.3% 40.6% 39.7% 40.0% 0.3 −1.3
45-54 40.0% 40.7% 41.0% 41.1% 40.3% −0.7 0.3
55-64 37.0% 38.7% 37.1% 35.1% 35.1% 0.1 −1.9
65 & up 32.0% 27.9% 28.6% 29.5% 26.0% −3.5 −6.0
Membership (%)
All 33.6% 34.8% 33.9% 33.2% 32.5% −0.7 −1.1
Gender Male 34.5% 34.8% 34.6% 34.5% 34.1% −0.4 −0.4
Female 33.0% 34.7% 33.3% 32.1% 31.3% −0.8 −1.7
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 34.5% 35.4% 34.7% 33.8% 33.0% −0.8 −1.5
Black 28.1% 31.7% 31.4% 29.6% 29.9% 0.3 1.9
Hispanic 35.4% 35.4% 34.7% 35.5% 34.7% −0.8 −0.7
AAPI 37.3% 38.6% 33.2% 34.9% 32.3% −2.6 −5.1
Other 22.3% 17.0% 20.0% 15.7% 19.6% 3.9 −2.7
White 34.7% 35.3% 34.6% 34.0% 33.2% −0.9 −1.5
Black 28.4% 32.3% 31.0% 29.5% 29.6% 0.1 1.1
Hispanic 35.4% 35.4% 34.7% 35.5% 34.7% −0.8 −0.7
Asian 35.7% 38.1% 32.3% 33.8% 31.1% −2.7 −4.6
Age 16-24 17.1% 18.9% 19.0% 16.9% 18.1% 1.2 1.1
25-34 33.1% 35.0% 33.9% 33.5% 31.1% −2.5 −2.0
35-44 37.5% 39.0% 36.6% 36.4% 36.0% −0.4 −1.5
45-54 36.4% 37.0% 37.4% 37.2% 36.9% −0.2 0.6
55-64 33.4% 34.3% 33.0% 31.4% 31.5% 0.1 −2.0
65 & up 29.2% 25.1% 25.5% 25.7% 23.7% −1.9 −5.5
Coverage
All 7,813,000 7,915,000 7,745,000 7,832,000 7,763,000 −70,000 −50,000
Gender Male 3,388,000 3,397,000 3,372,000 3,470,000 3,505,000 35,000 117,000
Female 4,425,000 4,518,000 4,373,000 4,362,000 4,257,000 −105,000 −167,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 5,248,000 5,201,000 5,147,000 5,114,000 4,990,000 −124,000 −258,000
Black 989,000 1,084,000 1,095,000 1,107,000 1,145,000 38,000 155,000
Hispanic 1,012,000 1,078,000 992,000 1,078,000 1,071,000 −6,000 59,000
AAPI 485,000 493,000 442,000 468,000 488,000 20,000 3,000
Other 79,000 60,000 69,000 66,000 69,000 3,000 −9,000
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 6,139,000 6,131,000 5,983,000 6,035,000 5,904,000 −131,000 −235,000
Black 1,019,000 1,103,000 1,096,000 1,118,000 1,138,000 20,000 119,000
Hispanic 1,012,000 1,078,000 992,000 1,078,000 1,071,000 −6,000 59,000
Asian 410,000 425,000 377,000 399,000 405,000 5,000 −6,000
Age 16-24 281,000 254,000 264,000 245,000 276,000 32,000 −5,000
25-34 1,552,000 1,642,000 1,576,000 1,612,000 1,517,000 −95,000 −35,000
35-44 1,946,000 2,065,000 1,909,000 1,989,000 2,090,000 101,000 144,000
45-54 2,018,000 1,980,000 2,092,000 2,118,000 2,099,000 −19,000 81,000
55-64 1,579,000 1,624,000 1,549,000 1,473,000 1,434,000 −38,000 −145,000
65 & up 436,000 349,000 356,000 395,000 345,000 −50,000 −91,000
Membership
All 7,059,000 7,168,000 6,978,000 7,061,000 7,007,000 −54,000 −52,000
Gender Male 3,095,000 3,071,000 3,043,000 3,176,000 3,184,000 8,000 89,000
Female 3,963,000 4,097,000 3,935,000 3,885,000 3,823,000 −62,000 −140,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 4,719,000 4,703,000 4,621,000 4,595,000 4,466,000 −129,000 −253,000
Black 898,000 992,000 1,001,000 1,002,000 1,058,000 55,000 160,000
Hispanic 917,000 965,000 891,000 982,000 984,000 2,000 68,000
AAPI 452,000 455,000 400,000 431,000 436,000 5,000 −16,000
Other 73,000 53,000 65,000 51,000 63,000 12,000 −10,000
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 5,533,000 5,534,000 5,375,000 5,436,000 5,310,000 −126,000 −223,000
Black 920,000 1,010,000 998,000 1,009,000 1,041,000 32,000 121,000
Hispanic 917,000 965,000 891,000 982,000 984,000 2,000 68,000
Asian 382,000 391,000 338,000 365,000 363,000 −3,000 −19,000
Age 16-24 245,000 223,000 219,000 220,000 248,000 28,000 3,000
25-34 1,387,000 1,484,000 1,434,000 1,439,000 1,354,000 −85,000 −32,000
35-44 1,770,000 1,905,000 1,720,000 1,824,000 1,883,000 58,000 112,000
45-54 1,833,000 1,802,000 1,911,000 1,916,000 1,923,000 7,000 90,000
55-64 1,426,000 1,439,000 1,378,000 1,318,000 1,285,000 −33,000 −142,000
65 & up 398,000 315,000 317,000 343,000 314,000 −29,000 −83,000
Total employment
All 21,011,000 20,618,000 20,613,000 21,298,000 21,573,000 275,000 562,000
Gender Male 8,985,000 8,822,000 8,796,000 9,204,000 9,348,000 144,000 363,000
Female 12,026,000 11,796,000 11,817,000 12,094,000 12,225,000 131,000 199,000
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 13,682,000 13,276,000 13,325,000 13,589,000 13,529,000 −60,000 −153,000
Black 3,200,000 3,125,000 3,191,000 3,382,000 3,534,000 152,000 334,000
Hispanic 2,590,000 2,728,000 2,567,000 2,765,000 2,835,000 70,000 246,000
AAPI 1,210,000 1,178,000 1,205,000 1,236,000 1,351,000 114,000 141,000
Other 330,000 312,000 325,000 325,000 324,000 −1,000 −6,000
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 15,969,000 15,677,000 15,552,000 15,983,000 16,014,000 31,000 45,000
Black 3,234,000 3,129,000 3,214,000 3,422,000 3,523,000 101,000 288,000
Hispanic 2,590,000 2,728,000 2,567,000 2,765,000 2,835,000 70,000 246,000
Asian 1,069,000 1,027,000 1,045,000 1,080,000 1,164,000 84,000 95,000
Age 16-24 1,434,000 1,179,000 1,151,000 1,300,000 1,367,000 66,000 −67,000
25-34 4,193,000 4,241,000 4,236,000 4,290,000 4,360,000 70,000 167,000
35-44 4,717,000 4,884,000 4,699,000 5,013,000 5,230,000 217,000 513,000
45-54 5,040,000 4,867,000 5,103,000 5,158,000 5,207,000 49,000 167,000
55-64 4,265,000 4,195,000 4,180,000 4,199,000 4,084,000 −115,000 −181,000
65 & up 1,362,000 1,253,000 1,243,000 1,338,000 1,325,000 −13,000 −36,000
Sample size
All 154,727 133,671 134,177 129,714 125,755
Gender Male 78,633 68,252 68,586 66,361 64,079
Female 76,094 65,419 65,591 63,353 61,676
Race/ethnicity (EPI**) White 104,491 91,644 89,917 85,487 82,151
Black 15,570 13,234 13,657 13,218 12,696
Hispanic 22,427 18,331 19,641 19,882 20,031
AAPI 10,236 8,842 9,293 9,512 9,276
Other 2,003 1,620 1,669 1,615 1,601
Race/ethnicity (BLS***) White 124,948 108,361 107,668 103,483 100,355
Black 15,566 13,181 13,689 13,247 12,710
Hispanic 22,427 18,331 19,641 19,882 20,031
Asian 9,027 7,833 8,295 8,338 8,042
Age 16-24 18,696 15,210 16,139 15,440 15,174
25-34 34,093 28,809 29,376 28,324 27,207
35-44 33,172 29,094 29,390 28,632 27,722
45-54 31,451 27,351 26,859 25,785 25,084
55-64 27,428 24,275 23,513 22,638 21,606
65 & up 9,887 8,932 8,900 8,895 8,962
* 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. 2020. Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.47, https://microdata.epi.org.