NY Has Highest US Union Membership Rate: NC Has Lowest US Union Membership Rate: Occupationally, Teachers, Police And Firefighters Have Highest Unionization

From Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, "Union Members Summary:"

In 2013, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions--was 11.3 percent, the same as in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.5 million, was little different from 2012. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers.***Highlights from the 2013 data:

--Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (35.3 percent) more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.7 percent).

--Workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective service occupations had the highest unionization rate, at 35.3 percent for each occupation group.

--Men had a higher union membership rate (11.9 percent) than women (10.5 percent).

--Black workers were more likely to be union members than white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.

--Among states, New York continued to have the highest union membership rate (24.4 percent), and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.0 percent). [Tables omitted.]