In 2020, the number of unionized workers dropped, while the share of union members increased

Based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 14.3 million or 10.8% of US employees were in unions last year. That’s just over half of the 20.1% in 1983, when there were 17.7 million employed, waged, and salaried workers in unions. Notably, while the number of union members declined 321,000 from 2019 to 2020, the percentage of unionized employees increased by half a percentage point. This suggests that most pandemic job losses were in non-union jobs, though it is important to note that the 2020 data is an annual average that includes months from before the pandemic was declared.

How has union membership changed since 2000?