News Notes: Continued Steady Decline In Union Membership

Recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures reveal the number of workers who belong to labor unions has continued its steady 20-year decline. In 2003, just 12.9 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a labor union, down from 13.3 percent a year earlier. For private sector workers, union membership fell from 8.6 percent to 8.2 percent from 2002 to 2003. Membership in public sector unions dropped from 37.3 percent to 37.2 percent and has essentially held steady since 1983. View the BLS data.