In 2011, union members accounted for 14.6 percent of wage and salary workers in Massachusetts and 16.8 percent in Connecticut compared to 14.5 and 16.7 percent, respectively, in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Joyce A. Sweeney noted that both states had union membership rates above the U.S. average of 11.8 percent in 2011, with Connecticut’s rate ranking ninth highest in the nation. (See chart 1 and table A.)  In fact, the union membership rates in these two states have always exceeded the national average throughout the history of the series which begin in 1989, the first year for which comparable state data are available.

Massachusetts had 422,000 union members in 2011 and Connecticut, 259,000. An additional 23,000 wage and salary workers in Massachusetts and 13,000 in Connecticut were represented by a union on their main job or were covered by an employee association or contract while not union members themselves. (See table A.) Nationwide, 14.8 million wage and salary workers were union members in 2011 and 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 of 11.8 percent. (See table 1.) Of 12 states with union membership rates above 15.0 percent, 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 (24.1 percent), followed by Alaska (22.1 percent), Hawaii (21.5 percent), and Washington (19.0 percent). Among the New England states, Rhode Island and Vermont joined Massachusetts and Connecticut with union membership rates above the national average.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the national average 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 4.4 million fewer wage and salary employees statewide, Massachusetts, with 422,000 union members, had almost as many as Florida with 460,000. On the other hand, though Connecticut and Louisiana had a similar number of wage and salary workers, Connecticut had more than three times as many union members—259,000 versus 77,000.

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. 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 New England (Boston) Information Office at 617-565-2327 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.   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.