January 23, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Union membership by occupation in 2000

At 21.9 percent, precision production, craft, and repair workers had the highest unionization rate among the broad occupational groups in 2000. Operators, fabricators, and laborers were next, at 19.8 percent. 

[Chart data—TXT]

Service occupations had a 13.2 percent union membership rate. Protective services, which includes police officers and fire fighters, had a unionization rate of 39.4 percent. For other service occupations, the rate was 8.9 percent.

Among all wage and salary workers, 13.5 percent were union members in 2000. 

These 2000 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 2000," news release USDL 01-21.