In 2013, the union membership rate was 11.3%, the same as in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in late January. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.5 million, was little different from 2012. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data is available, the union membership rate was 20.1% and there were 17.7 million union workers.
In the private sector, industries with high unionization rates in 2013 included utilities (25.6%), transportation and warehousing (19.6%), telecommunications (14.4%) and construction (14.1%).
The number of construction industry employees who were members of unions rose from 820,000 (13.2% of all employees) in 2012 to 915,000 (14.1%).
Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in construction increased 0.9% to $1,096 for union members and fell 1.2% to $713 for nonmembers. For more information, visit stats.bls.gov.
