2004 Union Members — 2005-01-27

In 2004, 12.5 percent of wage and salary workers were union members, down from 12.9 percent in 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The union membership rate has steadily declined from a high of 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available. Some highlights from the 2004 data are: --About 36 percent of government workers were union members in 2004, compared with about 8 percent of workers in private-sector industries. --Two occupational groups--education, training, and library occupations and protective service occupations--had the highest unionization rates in 2004, at about 37 percent each. Protective service occupations in- clude fire fighters and police officers. --Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic or Latino workers. In 2004, workers in the public sector had a union membership rate more than four times that of private-sector employees.