Union Membership in U.S. Fell to a 70-Year Low Last Year

The number of American workers in unions declined sharply last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, with the percentage slipping to 11.9 percent, the lowest rate in more than 70 years.

The report found that the number of workers in unions fell by 612,000 last year to 14.7 million, an even larger decrease than the overall 417,000 decline in the total number of Americans working.

The number of private sector workers in unions fell by 339,000, to 7.1 million, while the number of public sector union members fell by 273,000, to 7.6 million.

In one piece of good news for unions, the bureau said that median weekly earnings for union members — $917 — remained higher than the $717 in earnings for workers not in unions.

According to the bureau, New York had the highest unionization rate of any state, at 24.2 percent, followed by Alaska, at 22.9 percent, and Hawaii, at 21.8 percent. North Carolina had the lowest rate, at 3.2 percent, with Arkansas and Georgia tied for second-lowest at 4 percent.