In 2011, the number of workers belonging to a union was 149,000 in Arizona, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that union members accounted for 6.0 percent of wage and salary workers in Arizona in 2011 compared with 6.4 percent reported in 2010. (See chart 1.) Nationally, union members accounted for 11.8 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 2011 and 11.9 percent in 2010. Since 1989, when comparable state data became available, Arizona has had union membership rates below the U.S. average, reaching its peak of 8.8 percent in both 2007 and 2008.

In addition to the 149,000 wage and salary workers in Arizona who were union members in 2011, another 34,000 workers were represented by a union on their main job or covered by an employee association or contract while not being union members themselves. (See table A.) Nationwide, 1.5 million wage and salary workers were not affiliated with a union but had jobs covered by a union contract.

In 2011, 21 states had union membership rates above the U.S. average, 11.8 percent, of which 12 had rates above 15 percent. (See table 1.) Of the 12 states with the highest rates, 4 were located in the Northeast, 3 in the Midwest, and the remaining 5 bordered the Pacific Ocean. (See chart 2.) New York had the highest rate, followed by Alaska (22.1 percent), Hawaii (21.5 percent), and Washington (19.0 percent). In fact, New York has had the highest membership rate in the nation for 15 of the past 17 years.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the national average of 11.8 percent in 2011. Seven of these states, all in the South, had union membership rates below 5.0 percent, with North Carolina having the lowest, 2.9 percent. The next lowest rates were recorded in South Carolina (3.4 percent), Georgia (3.9 percent), Arkansas (4.2 percent), Louisiana (4.5 percent), and Tennessee and Virginia (4.6 percent each).

Over half of the 14.8 million union members in the United States lived in just seven states (California, 2.4 million; New York, 1.9 million; Illinois, 0.9 million; Pennsylvania, 0.8 million; Michigan, 0.7 million; and New Jersey and Ohio, 0.6 million each), though these states accounted for only one-third of wage and salary employment nationally.

State union membership levels depend on both the union membership rate and the employment level. For example, despite having 2.3 million fewer wage and salary employees statewide, New York had over four times as many union members as Texas. North Carolina and Hawaii, on the other hand, had comparable numbers of union members (105,000 and 113,000, respectively), though North Carolina's wage and salary employment level (3.6 million) was nearly seven times that of Hawaii’s (525,000).

Technical Note

The estimates in this release are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides the basic information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. The survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau from a scientifically selected national sample of about 60,000 households. The union membership and earnings data are tabulated from one-quarter of the CPS monthly sample and are limited to wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded.

Union membership data, particularly for levels, are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years because of the introduction of updated population controls used in the CPS. These updated controls have little or no effect on unemployment rates and other ratios, such as union membership rates. For technical documentation and related information, including reliability of the CPS estimates, see www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.

For personal assistance or further information on union membership, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Western Information Office at 415-625-2270 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PT.   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone: 617-565-2072, Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

The principal definitions used in this release are described briefly below.

Union members. Members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.

Represented by unions. Union members, as well as workers who have no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Wage and salary workers. Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors, but, for the purposes of the union membership and earnings series, excludes all self-employed persons, regardless of whether or not their businesses are incorporated.