For Release: Monday, May 06, 2013
NEW ENGLAND INFORMATION OFFICE: Boston, Mass.
Technical information: (617) 565-2327 [email protected]
Media contact:
(617) 565-2326 [email protected]
13-401-BOS
www.bls.gov/regions/new-england
Union Membership in Massachusetts and Connecticut - 2012
In 2012, union members accounted for 14.4 percent of wage and salary workers in Massachusetts and 14.0
percent in Connecticut compared to 14.6 and 16.8 percent, respectively, in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that both states had union
membership rates above the U.S. average of 11.3 percent in 2012. (See chart 1 and table A.) In fact, the
union membership rates in these two states have always exceeded the national average throughout since the
series began in 1989, the first year for which comparable state data are available.
Massachusetts had 417,000 union members in 2012 and Connecticut, 216,000. An additional 53,000 wage
and salary workers in Massachusetts and 16,000 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, 14.4 million wage and salary workers were union members in 2012 and 1.6 million
wage and salary workers were not affiliated with a union but had jobs covered by a union contract.
Table A. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers in Massachusetts and Connecticut, annual
averages, 2003-2012 (numbers in thousands)
Members of unions(1)
Year
Massachusetts
2003 ......................................................................
2004 ......................................................................
2005 ......................................................................
2006 ......................................................................
2007 ......................................................................
2008 ......................................................................
2009 ......................................................................
2010 ......................................................................
2011.......................................................................
2012 ......................................................................
Connecticut
2003 ......................................................................
2004 ......................................................................
2005 ......................................................................
2006 ......................................................................
2007 ......................................................................
2008 ......................................................................
2009 ......................................................................
2010 ......................................................................
2011.......................................................................
2012 ......................................................................
Total employed
Represented by unions(2)
Percent of
employed
Total
Percent of
employed
Total
2,925
2,920
2,886
2,859
2,882
2,909
2,864
2,866
2,882
2,896
416
393
402
414
379
458
476
415
422
417
14.2
13.5
13.9
14.5
13.2
15.7
16.6
14.5
14.6
14.4
454
430
431
438
402
491
516
446
445
470
15.5
14.7
14.9
15.3
14.0
16.9
18.0
15.6
15.4
16.2
1,489
1,539
1,550
1,591
1,617
1,625
1,538
1,549
1,542
1,541
229
235
247
247
253
275
265
258
259
216
15.4
15.3
15.9
15.6
15.6
16.9
17.3
16.7
16.8
14.0
244
256
263
263
269
291
282
270
272
232
16.4
16.6
17.0
17.0
16.6
17.9
18.4
17.4
17.7
15.1
Footnotes:
(1) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
(2) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union, as well as workers who are not members but whose jobs
are covered by a union or employee association contract.
NOTE: Data refer to the sole or principal job of full-and part-time workers. Excluded are all self-employed workers regardless of whether or not their
businesses are incorporated. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of the January data.
In 2012, 19 states had union membership rates above the U.S. average, of which 9 had rates above 15
percent. (See table 1.) Of the 9 states with the highest rates, 3 were located in the Northeast, 1 in the
Midwest, and the remaining 5 bordered the Pacific Ocean. (See chart 2.) New York had the highest rate
(23.2 percent), followed by Alaska (22.4 percent), Hawaii (21.6 percent), and Washington (18.5 percent). In
fact, New York has had the highest membership rate in the nation for 16 of the past 18 years.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the national average of
11.3 percent in 2012. Eight of these states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent, with North
Carolina having the lowest, 2.9 percent. The next lowest rates were recorded in Arkansas (3.2 percent),
South Carolina (3.3 percent), and Mississippi (4.3 percent).
About half of the 14.4 million union members in the United States lived in just seven states (California, 2.5
million; New York, 1.8 million; Illinois, 0.8 million; Pennsylvania, 0.7 million; and Michigan, New Jersey,
and Ohio, 0.6 million each), though these states accounted for only about one-third of wage and salary
employment nationally.
2
State union membership levels depend on both the state wage and salary employment level and the union
membership rate. For example, with a union membership rate of 5.7 percent, Texas had about one-third as
many union members as New York, despite having 2.7 million more wage and salary employees. North
Carolina and Hawaii had comparable numbers of union members (112,000 and 116,000, respectively),
though North Carolina’s wage and salary employment level (3.8 million) was nearly seven times that of
Hawaii (537,000).
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 eligible households. The union membership and earnings data are tabulated from onequarter 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.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice
phone: (202) 691-5200, Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.
Definitions
The principal definitions used in this release are described briefly below.
Union members. Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
Represented by unions. Data refer to both union members and workers who report 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. Union membership and
earnings data exclude all self-employed workers, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those
with unincorporated businesses.
3
Table 1. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state, 2011-2012 (Numbers in thousands)
2011
State
Alabama ....................................
Alaska........................................
Arizona ......................................
Arkansas ...................................
California ...................................
Colorado....................................
Connecticut ...............................
Delaware ...................................
District of Columbia ...................
Florida .......................................
Georgia......................................
Hawaii........................................
Idaho .........................................
Illinois ........................................
Indiana.......................................
Iowa ...........................................
Kansas ......................................
Kentucky....................................
Louisiana ...................................
Maine.........................................
Maryland....................................
Massachusetts ..........................
Michigan ....................................
Minnesota..................................
Mississippi .................................
Missouri .....................................
Montana ....................................
Nebraska ...................................
Nevada ......................................
New Hampshire.........................
New Jersey................................
New Mexico...............................
New York ...................................
North Carolina ...........................
North Dakota .............................
Ohio ...........................................
Oklahoma ..................................
Oregon ......................................
Pennsylvania .............................
Rhode Island .............................
South Carolina...........................
South Dakota.............................
Tennessee .................................
Texas .........................................
Utah ...........................................
Vermont .....................................
Virginia.......................................
Washington................................
West Virginia .............................
Wisconsin ..................................
Wyoming ...................................
Total
employed
1,781
306
2,493
1,116
13,931
2,186
1,542
370
281
7,283
3,876
525
594
5,408
2,681
1,386
1,268
1,678
1,717
554
2,549
2,882
3,838
2,461
1,081
2,531
377
828
1,050
617
3,816
726
7,920
3,589
318
4,813
1,458
1,574
5,348
453
1,726
359
2,504
10,214
1,150
290
3,550
2,727
672
2,538
250
Members of
unions(1)
Total
178
68
149
47
2,379
179
259
39
23
460
153
113
31
876
302
155
97
150
77
63
316
422
671
371
54
275
49
65
154
68
615
49
1,906
105
20
647
94
270
779
79
59
18
115
534
67
35
163
517
93
339
18
2012
Represented by
unions(2)
Percent
of
employed
10.0
22.1
6.0
4.2
17.1
8.2
16.8
10.5
8.3
6.3
3.9
21.5
5.1
16.2
11.3
11.2
7.6
8.9
4.5
11.3
12.4
14.6
17.5
15.1
5.0
10.9
13.0
7.9
14.6
11.1
16.1
6.8
24.1
2.9
6.3
13.4
6.4
17.1
14.6
17.4
3.4
5.1
4.6
5.2
5.8
12.0
4.6
19.0
13.8
13.3
7.2
Total
193
73
183
57
2,532
203
272
42
28
557
185
118
36
929
333
187
128
173
91
74
348
445
703
390
73
316
55
83
175
77
641
65
2,068
149
27
706
113
286
846
81
86
23
139
643
82
39
198
557
102
358
21
Note: See footnotes at end of table.
4
Total
Percent employed
of
employed
10.8
23.7
7.3
5.1
18.2
9.3
17.7
11.2
9.9
7.6
4.8
22.5
6.1
17.2
12.4
13.5
10.1
10.3
5.3
13.4
13.7
15.4
18.3
15.8
6.8
12.5
14.6
10.0
16.6
12.5
16.8
9.0
26.1
4.1
8.6
14.7
7.7
18.1
15.8
17.9
5.0
6.5
5.6
6.3
7.1
13.5
5.6
20.4
15.2
14.1
8.4
1,807
298
2,434
1,157
14,483
2,165
1,541
377
309
7,602
3,914
537
613
5,486
2,702
1,390
1,248
1,742
1,733
559
2,636
2,896
3,785
2,465
1,113
2,507
392
864
1,101
621
3,796
780
7,936
3,805
329
4,800
1,531
1,526
5,452
455
1,773
351
2,586
10,590
1,179
288
3,592
2,776
697
2,605
252
Members of
unions(1)
Total
166
67
125
37
2,489
169
216
39
27
440
171
116
29
801
246
145
85
174
107
64
280
417
629
351
48
224
54
52
162
65
611
50
1,841
112
20
604
115
240
734
81
58
20
124
599
61
31
159
513
84
293
17
Represented by
unions(2)
Percent
of
employed
9.2
22.4
5.1
3.2
17.2
7.8
14.0
10.4
8.6
5.8
4.4
21.6
4.8
14.6
9.1
10.4
6.8
10.0
6.2
11.5
10.6
14.4
16.6
14.2
4.3
8.9
13.9
6.0
14.7
10.5
16.1
6.5
23.2
2.9
6.1
12.6
7.5
15.7
13.5
17.8
3.3
5.6
4.8
5.7
5.2
10.7
4.4
18.5
12.1
11.2
6.7
Total
190
71
159
43
2,666
190
232
44
32
555
210
124
36
852
269
172
105
198
130
78
325
470
648
368
64
253
65
70
181
74
636
68
1,975
162
27
665
140
250
787
84
82
24
152
721
77
38
197
541
91
312
20
Percent
of
employed
10.5
23.9
6.5
3.7
18.4
8.8
15.1
11.8
10.3
7.3
5.4
23.2
5.8
15.5
10.0
12.4
8.4
11.4
7.5
13.9
12.3
16.2
17.1
14.9
5.7
10.1
16.5
8.1
16.4
12.0
16.8
8.7
24.9
4.3
8.2
13.9
9.1
16.4
14.4
18.4
4.6
6.7
5.9
6.8
6.6
13.1
5.5
19.5
13.1
12.0
8.1
Footnotes:
(1) Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
(2) Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee
association contract.
NOTE: Data refer to the sole or principal job of full- and part-time wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded, both those with
incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of
January data.
5
6