Bureau of Labor Statistics
Internet Address: http://www.bls.gov/ro2/ For Release: FOR RELEASE: March 12, 2008 Media Contact: Michael L. Dolfman,(212) 337-2500 Information: Martin Kohli,(646) 264-3620
UNION MEMBERSHIP IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY, 2007
In 2007, 25.2 percent of wage and salary workers in New York and
19.2 percent of the same group in New Jersey were union members,
compared to 24.4 percent and 20.1 percent, respectively, in 2006,
according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Regional Commissioner Michael L. Dolfman noted that New
York and New Jersey ranked among the top six states in union
membership rates. Nationally, union members accounted for 12.1
percent of wage and salary workers in 2007, essentially unchanged
from 12.0 percent in 2006. (See chart A.) The U.S. rate has
declined from a high of 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for
which comparable national union data were available.
New York had 2,055,000 union members in 2007, while New Jersey had
748,000 members. An additional 91,000 wage and salary workers in New
York and 54,000 in New Jersey were represented by a union or were
covered by a union or an employee association contract, while not
being union members themselves. Nationally, nearly 15.7 million wage
and salary workers were union members in 2007, while another 1.6
million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, but not
union members themselves.
In 2007, 30 states and the District of Columbia had union
membership rates below the U.S. average of 12.1 percent, while 20
states had higher rates. All states in the Middle Atlantic
(including New York and New Jersey) and Pacific divisions reported
union membership rates above the national average, and all states in
the East South Central and West South Central divisions had rates
below it. Union membership rates were down from those of 2006 in 27
states (including New Jersey), up in 20 states (including New York),
and unchanged in 3 states and the District of Columbia. (See table
1.)
In addition to New York, three states had union membership rates
over 20.0 percent in 2007-Alaska (23.8 percent), Hawaii (23.4
percent), and Washington (20.2 percent). (See chart 1.) Hawaii and
New York have recorded the highest union membership rates among all
states for 11 of the past 12 years. New Jersey was one of eight
states with union membership rates in the range from 15.0 to 19.9
percent. Among the five states reporting union membership rates below
5.0 percent, North Carolina posted the lowest rate (3.0 percent)
followed by Virginia (3.7 percent), South Carolina (4.1 percent),
Georgia (4.4 percent), and Texas (4.7 percent).
Nearly half (7.8 million) of the 15.7 million union members in the
U.S. lived in six states (California, 2.5 million; New York, 2.1
million; Illinois, 0.8 million; Michigan, 0.8 million; Pennsylvania,
0.8 million; and New Jersey, 0.7 million), though these states
accounted for about one-third of wage and salary employment
nationally.
State union membership levels depend on both employment levels and
union membership rates. New York had more than four times as many
union members as Texas, despite having over 1.7 million fewer wage
and salary employees. Similarly, New Jersey had four times as many
union members as Georgia, even though it had about 280,000 fewer wage
and salary workers.
Technical Note
The estimates in this release were 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 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
revised population controls used in the CPS. The effect of the
revised population controls on the union membership estimates is
unknown. However, the effect of the new controls in 2007 on the
monthly CPS estimates for the U.S. was to increase the December 2006
employment level by 153,000 and the unemployment level by 10,000. The
updated controls had little or no effect on unemployment rates and
other ratios, such as union membership rates. For additional
information, see "Adjustments to Household Survey Population
Estimates in January 2007" in the February 2007 issue of Employment
and Earnings, available on the Internet at
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps07adj.pdf.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and
nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than the entire population,
is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ
from the "true" population values they represent. The exact
difference, or sampling error, varies depending upon the particular
sample selected, and this variability is measured by the standard
error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance, or level
of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no
more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value
because of sampling error.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling
error can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a
segment of the population, inability to obtain information for all
respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents
to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or
processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and
information on estimating standard errors, see the "Explanatory Notes
and Estimates of Error" section of Employment and Earnings.
Definitions
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.
NYLS - 7320 Labor - New York
3/10/08
Table 1. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state
(Numbers in thousands)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006 2007
Members of Represented Members of Represented
unions (1) by unions (2) unions (1) by unions (2)
State
Total Total
employed Percent Percent employed Percent Percent
Total of Total of Total of Total of
em- em- em- em-
ployed ployed ployed ployed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama................. 1,930 170 8.8 194 10.0 1,895 180 9.5 201 10.6
Alaska.................. 280 62 22.2 67 23.8 284 68 23.8 70 24.7
Arizona................. 2,584 197 7.6 250 9.7 2,619 230 8.8 255 9.7
Arkansas................ 1,130 58 5.1 67 6.0 1,154 62 5.4 75 6.5
California.............. 14,501 2,273 15.7 2,444 16.9 14,856 2,474 16.7 2,650 17.8
Colorado................ 2,154 165 7.7 186 8.6 2,204 191 8.7 202 9.2
Connecticut............. 1,591 247 15.6 263 16.5 1,617 253 15.6 269 16.6
Delaware................ 396 43 10.8 45 11.4 396 47 12.0 50 12.8
District of Columbia.... 246 25 10.3 30 12.2 278 29 10.3 38 13.6
Florida................. 7,676 397 5.2 497 6.5 7,741 455 5.9 562 7.3
Georgia................. 3,974 176 4.4 230 5.8 4,181 186 4.4 226 5.4
Hawaii.................. 562 139 24.7 146 25.9 556 130 23.4 135 24.2
Idaho................... 620 37 6.0 45 7.2 635 33 5.3 41 6.4
Illinois................ 5,684 931 16.4 979 17.2 5,802 842 14.5 884 15.2
Indiana................. 2,787 334 12.0 362 13.0 2,779 333 12.0 359 12.9
Iowa.................... 1,424 161 11.3 199 14.0 1,417 149 10.5 185 13.1
Kansas.................. 1,236 99 8.0 115 9.3 1,274 89 7.0 110 8.7
Kentucky................ 1,752 172 9.8 196 11.2 1,734 157 9.1 192 11.1
Louisiana............... 1,676 107 6.4 121 7.2 1,670 94 5.6 108 6.5
Maine................... 584 69 11.9 79 13.5 574 67 11.7 79 13.8
Maryland................ 2,614 342 13.1 386 14.8 2,598 335 12.9 376 14.5
Massachusetts........... 2,859 414 14.5 438 15.3 2,882 379 13.2 402 14.0
Michigan................ 4,299 842 19.6 879 20.4 4,193 819 19.5 865 20.6
Minnesota............... 2,479 395 16.0 416 16.8 2,460 400 16.3 419 17.0
Mississippi............. 1,065 60 5.6 78 7.3 1,068 72 6.7 95 8.9
Missouri................ 2,610 284 10.9 310 11.9 2,585 275 10.7 308 11.9
Montana................. 397 48 12.2 52 13.1 399 54 13.5 62 15.6
Nebraska................ 831 66 7.9 79 9.5 836 65 7.8 81 9.7
Nevada.................. 1,124 167 14.8 191 17.0 1,177 182 15.4 208 17.7
New Hampshire........... 620 63 10.1 70 11.3 631 61 9.7 70 11.2
New Jersey.............. 3,827 770 20.1 825 21.6 3,897 748 19.2 802 20.6
New Mexico.............. 796 62 7.8 92 11.5 800 62 7.7 91 11.4
New York................ 8,115 1,981 24.4 2,060 25.4 8,150 2,055 25.2 2,146 26.3
North Carolina.......... 3,810 126 3.3 155 4.1 3,771 114 3.0 147 3.9
North Dakota............ 300 20 6.8 24 8.0 303 19 6.4 23 7.6
Ohio.................... 5,170 734 14.2 801 15.5 5,187 730 14.1 797 15.4
Oklahoma................ 1,453 93 6.4 112 7.7 1,456 103 7.1 124 8.5
Oregon.................. 1,527 211 13.8 225 14.7 1,582 227 14.3 243 15.4
Pennsylvania............ 5,457 745 13.6 802 14.7 5,496 830 15.1 910 16.6
Rhode Island............ 498 76 15.3 79 16.0 497 75 15.0 78 15.8
South Carolina.......... 1,775 59 3.3 74 4.2 1,873 78 4.1 111 5.9
South Dakota............ 351 21 5.9 25 7.2 354 23 6.5 27 7.7
Tennessee............... 2,550 153 6.0 174 6.8 2,596 138 5.3 166 6.4
Texas................... 9,751 476 4.9 576 5.9 9,899 463 4.7 566 5.7
Utah.................... 1,121 61 5.4 69 6.1 1,153 67 5.8 78 6.8
Vermont................. 305 34 11.0 39 12.9 288 30 10.4 35 12.2
Virginia................ 3,446 139 4.0 179 5.2 3,502 129 3.7 167 4.8
Washington.............. 2,772 549 19.8 583 21.0 2,874 579 20.2 616 21.4
West Virginia........... 710 101 14.2 110 15.5 724 97 13.3 107 14.7
Wisconsin............... 2,587 386 14.9 415 16.1 2,631 376 14.3 405 15.4
Wyoming................. 235 19 8.3 24 10.0 239 19 7.9 22 9.4
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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
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. Excluded are all
self-employed workers regardless of whether or not their businesses are incorporated. Updated population
controls are introduced annually withthe release of January data.
Last Modified Date: March 13, 2008
