After falling by almost 1.4 million workers between 2008 and 2010, union membership hit a plateau in 2011. The total number of union members (up about 49,000) and the share of workers in a union (down 0.1 percentage points) were essentially unchanged last year.
In the public sector, the total number of union members declined 61,000, as squeezed federal, state, and local governments cut back employment. Union density (the share of the workforce that is a member of a union) in the public sector, however, increased 0.8 percentage points, to 37.0 percent. Density increased even as the number of union members dropped because overall employment in the sector declined more rapidly than union membership.
Meanwhile, in the private sector, union membership increased by about 110,000, with union density holding steady at 6.9 percent. Density remained unchanged between 2010 and 2011 because union employment increased at the same pace in 2011 as overall employment in the sector.
Overall, union density ticked down 0.1 percentage points, however, because employment shifted away from the more heavily unionized public sector and toward the less-heavily unionized private sector. For the third year in a row, public-sector workers made up a slight majority (51.2 percent) of all union workers.
The three broad industry categories with the largest net increases were health care and social assistance (up 101,000), construction (up 73,000), and durable manufactured goods (up 36,000). Professional and business services (down 65,000), utilities (down 36,000), and nondurable manufactured goods (down 31,000) were the industries with the biggest losses of union members.
Women continued to increase their representation in the union workforce. Of the 49,000-worker increase in union membership, about 36,000 were women and about 12,000 were men (the total does not sum to 49,000 due to rounding). As a result, the gender gap in unionization narrowed slightly from 1.5 percentage points in 2010 (a 12.6 percent unionization rate for men and an 11.1 percent rate for women) to 1.2 percentage points in 2011 (a 12.4 percent for men, 11.2 percent for women).
Unionization rates changed little by race in 2011. Black workers remained the most likely to be union members (13.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from 2010). White workers were the next most likely to be unionized (11.6 percent, a figure which includes Latinos following the Census methodology), essentially unchanged from 11.7 percent in 2010. Asians saw a decline in unionization rates to 10.1 percent (from 10.9 percent in 2010), but were still more likely to be unionized than Latino workers, at 9.7 percent.
Florida was the state experiencing the largest increase in union members in 2011 (up 68,000). Michigan was second (up 44,000) which translated to an increase of one full percentage point in the state's union density, from 16.5 percent in 2010 to 17.5 percent in 2011. Colorado (up 39,000), Illinois (up 32,000), and Missouri (up 31,000) also saw large increases in union membership.
Union membership fell sharply in New York (down 53,000) and California (down 52,000). New York remained the most heavily unionized state (24.1 percent), followed, as in 2010, by Alaska (22.1 percent). North Carolina (2.9 percent) and South Carolina (3.4 percent) were the states with the lowest share of union workers.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $145,000 in one-time donations and to add 1489 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy