1998 Union Members — 1999-01-25

The share of wage and salary workers who were union members averaged 13.9 percent in 1998 as compared with 14.1 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Labor�s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of union members was little changed at 16.2 million. The union membership rate has fallen from 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available. Some highlights from the 1998 data are: --About three-fifths of the 16.2 million union members were in private nonagricultural industries. About two-fifths worked in federal, state, or local government. --Among occupational groups, the unionization rate was highest among workers in protective service, which includes police officers and firefighters. --Median weekly earnings for union members who work full time were about a third higher than the median for nonunion workers. In 1998, government workers continued to have a much higher unionization rate than their private sector counterparts, 37.5 percent versus 9.5 percent.