The union density or union membership rate conveys the number of

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

members who are employees as a percentage of the total number of employees in a given industry or country. This is normally lower than collective agreement coverage rate, which refers to all people whose terms of work are collectively negotiated. Trade unions bargain with employers to improve pay, conditions, and decision-making in workplaces; higher rates of union density within an industry or country will generally indicate higher levels of trade union

bargaining power Bargaining power is the relative ability of parties in a negotiation (such as bargaining, contract writing, or making an agreement) to exert influence over each other in order to achieve favourable terms in an agreement. This power is derived f ...

, lower rates of density will indicate less bargaining power.

Causes

The causes of higher or lower union membership are widely debated. Common causes are often identified as including the following: *whether a jurisdiction encourages sectoral collective bargaining (higher coverage) or enterprise bargaining (lower coverage) *whether collective agreements to create a

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fr ...

or allow automatic enrollment in union membership are lawful *whether the government, for instance through a Ministry or Department of Labour, actively promotes collective agreement coverage with a power to impose terms if employers refuse to bargain with the workforce *whether a country enables collective agreements to be extended by government regulations to all workers when the coverage rate reaches a majority in a sector, or similar level *whether laws on collective bargaining and strikes are more or less favourable

By country

In the United States in 2015 there were 14.8m union members, and 16.4m people covered by collective bargaining or union representation. Union membership was 7.4% in private sector, but 39% in the public sector. In the five largest states,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

has 15.9% union membership,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

4.5%,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

6.8%,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

24.7% (the highest in the country), and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

had 15.2%. In December 2021, 14.3% of the Australian workforce were union members; this was a decline of more than 5 percentage points since 2010 and nearly 10 percentage points since 2005. In Sweden union density was 68% in 2019. In all the Nordic countries with a

Ghent system The Ghent system is the name given to an arrangement in some countries whereby the main responsibility for welfare payments, especially unemployment benefits, is held by trade unions rather than a government agency. The system is named after the ...

—Sweden, Denmark and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

—union density is almost 70%. In all these countries union density has declined. In France while the overall union density is 8%, in companies over 50 employees this level reaches 43%. US Bureau of Labor in 2010 notes a difference of

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

of 200 dollars between union-members (917), and non-union members (717) without indicating if higher salaries link to more unionisation, or the reverse or in mutuality.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Cite journal , last = Schnabel , first = Claus , title = Union membership and density: Some (not so) stylized facts and challenges , journal = European Journal of Industrial Relations , volume = 19 , issue = 3 , pages = 255–272 , publisher = Sage , doi = 10.1177/0959680113493373 , date = September 2013 , s2cid = 14168949 , url = https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/files/7690/Schnabel_union.pdf

External links

European Trade Union Institute

ILO Trade Union StatisticsOECD Statistics on Trade Union Density, since 1960 for some countries
Labour law Labor relations

Causes

By country

See also

Notes

References

External links