November 2, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Union membership shows distinct geographic pattern 

Every State in the Middle Atlantic, East North Central, and Pacific divisions had a union membership rate of 15.0 percent or above in 1999. In contrast, every State in the East South Central and West South Central divisions had a rate that was below 15.0 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

North Carolina and South Carolina of the South Atlantic division were the only States with union membership rates below 5 percent—3.2 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. These two States have had the lowest rates for the past 5 years.

New York, the most unionized State, had a union membership rate of 25.3 percent, eight times that of North Carolina.

At the national level, union members made up 13.9 percent of all persons with wage and salary employment in 1999, the same as in 1998.

The 1999 union membership data are from the Current Population Survey. The membership data refer to workers in both the public and private sectors. Find out more information on union membership by State in "Regional Trends," Monthly Labor Review, September 2000.