2003 Union Members — 2004-01-21

In 2003, 12.9 percent of wage and salary workers were union members, down from 13.3 percent in 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of persons belonging to a union fell by 369,000 over the year to 15.8 million in 2003. 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 2003 data are: --Blacks were more likely to be union members than were whites, Asians, and Hispanics or Latinos. --Nearly 4 in 10 government workers were union members in 2003, compared with less than 1 in 10 workers in private-sector industries. --Nearly two-fifths of workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective service occupations were union members in 2003. Protective service occupations include fire fighters and police officers.