The amount of union workers declined slightly in the United States in 2014, a trend that continues a 30-year dip in the prevalence of labor unions. These numbers reflect more states with right-to-work laws and fewer people who perceive labor organizations as necessary components of the American workforce.
A Current Population Survey released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in early 2015 shows the number of union workers slid to 11.1 percent of the working population in 2014. This amounts to 14.6 million Americans. In 2013, the percentage was 11.3 percent, leading to a slight year-to-year decrease of 0.2 percent. In 1983, 20 percent of workers, or 17.7 million people, belonged to unions.
Just over half of union workers in 2014 were in private-sector organizations. Only 6.6 percent of private-sector workers have union membership, compared to 35.7 percent of public-sector employees. Local government employees, such as teachers, police officers and firefighters, accounted for nearly 42 percent of public-sector union membership. Utilities companies had the most prevalent private-sector membership in 2014.
New York continues to be the most prevalent pro-union state, with 24.6 percent of workers in such organizations. North Carolina has the lowest participation rate, at 1.2 percent. The states with the lowest percentage of union workers are all in the South.
These numbers relate the continuing decline of influence of labor unions. President Barack Obama, a long-time supporter of unions, made a move that angered some of these organizations in June 2014, when he announced a reclassification of manufacturing firms that make factoryless goods. The largest example is Apple, a company that outsources its entire manufacturing process to China. Although iPhones, iPads and iPods are designed in the United States, Apple produces every single one of the devices overseas.
President Obama's reclassification goes into effect in 2017. The move increases the number of manufacturing jobs on paper by turning companies such as Apple into manufacturers. As such, Apple employees in the United States suddenly get counted as manufacturing jobs when, in reality, the workers are designers, salespeople and engineers. The move risks undermining American workers by obscuring the true state of manufacturing in the United States. Labor leaders fear the new policy makes it easier for politicians to create trade pacts that destroy American jobs and create more outsourcing to other countries.
Part of the reason for the decline in union workers involves perception of the organizations. A Pew Research survey shows 63 percent of Americans viewed unions favorably in 2001, whereas 51 percent viewed them favorably in June 2013. A 2012 survey indicated 64 percent of those polled agreed that unions protected workers' rights, yet 57 percent felt these groups had too much power.
The continued decline in unions presents a cultural shift in the American workforce. More and more people own their own businesses, work from home or do freelance and contract work. Plus, staunch supporters of the labor movement of the 1950s and '60s have retired. These factors may have combined to lessen the power of union workers in today's litigation-based society, where workers sue employers over unfair labor practices rather than join a union.
Photo courtesy of A. Michael Simms at Flickr.com
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