January 18, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Union membership in private industry, 2001

Among private industries, the union membership rate was the highest in transportation and public utilities in 2001, at 23.5 percent. Of all wage and salary workers in private industry, 9.0 percent were union members in 2001.

[Chart data—TXT]

The construction and manufacturing industries also had higher-than-average unionization rates, at 18.4 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. The industry with the lowest unionization rate in 2001 was agriculture—1.6 percent. Other private industries with below-average unionization rates were finance, insurance, and real estate; wholesale and retail trade; and services.

In contrast to private industry, 37.4 percent of government workers were union members in 2001.

These 2001 data on union membership are from the Current Population Survey. Unionization data are for wage and salary workers. Find out more in "Union Members in 2001," news release USDL 02-28.