And Union Membership Continues to Go Down, Down, Down
The latest reports indicate that union membership in the private (and public) sector continues to decline. In 2003, just over 8% of private sector employees belonged to a union; in 2004, the figure was
7.92%. Which states had the highest percentage of unionized workers?
NY, Hawaii, and Michigan.
The states with the lowest percentage:
N. and S. Carolinas, followed by Arkansas and Mississippi.
I was curious about any correlation between union membership and unemployment. Of course, just looking at the top 3 and bottom 4 union states is less meaningful than the kind of analysis of all 50 states Michael could do using fancy statistical methods (hint, hint).
I actually found a mixed bag. National average unemployment for Feb. was 5.4%.
Here are the states Michael mentions:
Top Union:
NY . . . . . 5.1%
Hawaii . . . 3.0%
Michigan . . 7.5%
Bottom Union:
NC . . . 5.4%
SC . . . 7.1%
Ark. . . 5.5%
Miss . . 6.8%
Could one conclude that union support is weaker where unemployment is higher and workers are just glad to be working?
Or is Michigan typical of the strong union state suffering high unemploymet because unions drove all the good jobs away — and Hawaii and NY anomalies?
What is the source of these statistics? Is it available publicly?
You want statistics?
Boy has the Government got statistics for you!
The Bureau of Labor Statistics website (http://www.bls.gov/) is an awesome piece of work!
Specifically, look here: Union Members Summary (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm)
And here: Local Area Unemployment Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm)
Happy calculating. Let us know if you come up with any interesting hypotheses.
I live in Michigan where we have the second highest unemployment and have for a long time. Maybe the reason our union membership is down is because so many companies have gone out of business.
Detroit and the surrounding area is a manufacturing community, MANY people who have worked manufacturing are now working low paying jobs just to survive, and there is nothing to look forward to as far as this changing.