U.S. union membership remained steady in 2024; Ohio loses 20,000 union members

The percentage of Americans who are union members remained relatively steady in 2024 compared to the previous year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual union density report, union membership in the U.S. slipped by 169,000 in 2024 to 14.25 million. This represents a 0.1 percent decrease in the total number of union members in America.

Following two years of slight gains that saw the number of union members nationwide grow by 412,000, those gains were nearly cut in half in 2024.

The slight dip in overall union membership mirrored a corresponding decrease in union density, which fell from 10 percent to 9.9 percent. It coincided with an overall loss of 19,000 jobs compared to the previous year.

Fair-share payers, workers who are represented by unions and do not pay union dues but instead pay fair-share fees to cover the cost of representation, also declined from 16.1 million (11.2 percent) in 2023 to 16.02 million (11.1 percent) in 2024.

In a prepared statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said the overall number of union members should be higher, but corporations are stalling the Collective Bargaining Agreement Process.

“Today’s BLS numbers don’t begin to tell the real story of the desire workers have to join a union,” she said. “The number of union elections has doubled since 2021.”

In 2024, there were nearly 1,800 union elections, with workers winning the majority of those votes, Shuler also noted.

“Many of these victories are not reflected in the numbers released today because employers are exploiting a broken system to delay bargaining a first contract. But these wins – including an election for the first-ever Whole Foods union in Philadelphia – are proof positive of working people’s incredible desire to join and form unions.”

In the state of Ohio, union membership fell by about 20,000 members. The BLS report showed the number of union members in the Buckeye State decreased from 641,000 members in 2023 to 621,000 in 2024. This represents a union density drop from 12.5 percent in 2023 to 12.1 in 2024.

Similar to the data for Ohio, the nationwide union construction industry took a hit in 2024.

Despite a building boom throughout many regions of the country and a major need for men and women to enter the industry, the number of union building trades members in 2024 fell by 40,000 compared to the prior year.

Between 2023 and 2024, membership in the union construction industry decreased by 103,000 members. That equals a union density drop from 10.7 percent to 10.3 percent.

While union membership went down, the number of non-union construction workers increased slightly from 7.95 million in 2023 to 7.96 million last year.

Overall, the total number of construction jobs (union and non-union) remained stagnant at 8.9 million, further highlighting the struggle to bring new blood into this line of work.

With ample work opportunities in many areas of the county, unions are collectively struggling to replace the retiring Baby Boomer generation through either organizing or apprenticeship recruitment. In many parts of the U.S. there are not enough individuals joining the trades to match those who are leaving it.

While the number of union construction workers decreased, the survey showed those doing the work continue to earn better wages than those in the non-union sector.

Last year, union construction workers brought home about $106 more than the prior year. The industry’s full-time median weekly income was $1,530, up from $1,424 in 2023.

In 2024, non-union construction workers earned a full-time median weekly income of $1,051, up slightly from $1,007 in the previous year. This means union workers earn, on average, $479 more per week than their non-union counterparts.

When the figures are extended to a full year, union construction workers earned a full-time median income of just under $25,000 more in 2024 than their non-union counterparts. The wage data does not take into account the entire wage package, however. Doing so would likely increase the wage gap even further, making it significantly life-changing.

Specific state-related occupation and income figures from 2024 are not available.

For Shuler, the BLS report does not match what she is witnessing.

“Public approval for unions is at a nearly 70-year high because in an economy that continues to heavily tilt to the wealthy few and leaves workers behind,” she said. “The only way to get ahead is by joining together.”

Shuler cited recent successful organizing campaigns at Starbucks, Amazon and Volkswagen, which she believes shows that workers want to join unions.

“There are 60 million workers who would join a union today if given the opportunity, but between broken labor law and corporate bosses like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos engaging in often illegal union-busting every year with little consequence, far too few get that chance,” she said. “It’s time for change.

Until that change occurs, private sector unions continue to shrink. There were 7.2 union members working in the private sector in 2024, down from 7.4 million in 2023.

The data is better for public sector unions, which saw union membership grow by 15,000 from 2023 to 2024.

The report showed that it pays to be in a union, as union workers earn 17 percent more per week than their non-union counterparts. Compared to 2023, the power of Collective Bargaining Agreements gave the average union member a $74 per week raise, while non-union workers earned $48 more than the previous year.

Union workers made an average weekly median income of $1,337 in 2024, topping the non-union amount of $1,138. This data does not include fringe benefits, which would likely tip the scale even farther to the union side.

The gender wage gap continues to widen among non-union workers. On average, women made roughly $225 less per week than their male counterparts. While there is a wage gap among union members, it is not as large. Male union members made about $183 more than female union members in 2024.

However, in the building trades, this wage gap does not exist, as Collective Bargaining Agreements ensure that tradesmen and tradeswomen of equal experience earn the same hourly rate for performing the same work.

When it comes to individual demographics, union membership is highest in the 45- to 54-year range (12.6 percent), followed by 35 to 44 (10.8 percent). The age range with the lowest percentage of membership was 16-24 (4.3 percent).

Among occupations, education, training and library occupations (32.7 percent) and protective service occupations (31.9 percent) were the most unionized private-sector positions.

Private sector industries with the highest union density included utilities (18.7 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.8 percent) and educational services (13.2 percent). At the other end of the spectrum were finance (0.8 percent), insurance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.2 percent) and agricultural and related industries (1.4 percent).

As in previous years, the BLS report showed union members remain concentrated in three major areas of the nation – the Northeast, Great Lakes and Pacific Coast