Public Sector Drop Undermines Unions’ Organizing Success in 2023

A decline in state and municipal union jobs dragged down the nation’s overall union membership rate last year to a record low of 10%, even as the labor movement made notable gains in the private sector.

Unions have held a tight grip on government workplaces for decades, maintaining membership rates five times higher than the private sector. But sluggish efforts to replace workers who fled or were laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic continue to pose challenges for public-sector unions, labor analysts said of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Jan. 23.

“There were gains in the federal government and there were gains in the private sector,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left- leaning think tank. “The entire decline in density was about state and local governments.”

Those include an uptick in organizing wins for white-collar workers in computer and math-based jobs, as well as workers in sports, entertainment, and art-related fields.

A number of blue states—including California, Washington, and Illinois—saw losses in union workers despite a legal climate that favors public-section unions. Private-section unions are governed by federal labor law, while government unions must navigate a jigsaw of state and local laws.

Several red states—including Alabama, Arkansas, and Indiana—saw increases in both union membership and density. In others, such as Ohio, union membership stayed the same but couldn’t keep up with a rapidly-growing workforce.

Resurgence in Vibe Only?

The annual BLS data release, regarded as the definitive tracker of union health in the US, came as a shock to a labor movement basking in high public approval and a recent string of wins on the picket line. The numbers raise questions about whether the decades-long slide in union membership can be reversed.

The rock-bottom membership rate in 2023 was less than half what it was 40 years ago, when the government began tracking comparable data.

The mixed report raises new urgency for efforts to organize new workers. The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, sought to raise an additional $10 million a year through dues hikes to fund new organizing starting in 2022, part of President Liz Shuler’s pledge to recruit 1 million new members by 2032.

Union density in state government jobs fell by about 1 percentage point in 2023, a significant drop for a single year. The public-sector membership rate as a whole fell, from 33.1% to 32.5%, while the private-sector rate remained stable at 6% for the first time since 2020.

While the private-sector rate is low, it represents 7.4 million workers, compared to 7 million in the public sector.

Private-sector union election wins at the National Labor Relations Board are well documented but don’t tell the full story, said Bloomberg Law Legal Analyst Robert Combs. “But the NLRB doesn’t oversee most public-sector unionization efforts, so the decline in government unionization that BLS is reporting is coming as a bit of a surprise.”

The BLS data may not capture all of the members added last year, given that state and local governments only reached pre-pandemic staffing levels at the end of 2023, according to AFSCME, which represents public-sector workers.

“It is not a surprise to see that severe staffing shortages and job vacancies in public service have contributed to a small dip in union membership,” the union said in a statement. “Nor would it be a surprise if these numbers—which come from a survey and not actual membership data—have not yet caught up with the increased union enthusiasm and mobilization efforts of last year.”

Gaining Members, Losing Ground

The report isn’t all bad, however. While unions didn’t keep up with growth in the overall workforce, they did add 139,000 members in 2023.

Unions lost ground in traditionally union-friendly industries, even as they picked up members in white-collar occupations. Representation in mining slid from 6.5% to 4.3%, while construction dropped from 11.7% to 10.7%.

At the same time, professional services, hospitality, education and health services, and transportation edged upward.

Unions are also attracting younger, more diverse workers, which could pay dividends down the road. Membership totals in 2023 for 16- to 24-year-old workers, and for Black and Latino workers, were the highest in a decade.

One thing is clear: unions are less White, male, and middle-aged than they used to be, Shierholz said. “So many of the data scream it’s actually not about that.”