Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes data on union membership in the United States. The most recent survey, which was affected by a government shutdown, indicated a slight increase in union density, moving from 9.9 percent to 10.0 percent. However, the BLS described this change as “little changed from the prior year.” Notably, the private-sector union membership rate remained steady at 5.9 percent, with 7.4 million private-sector union members compared to 7.3 million government-worker union members—a near parity not seen since the pandemic year of 2020.
Other trends remain similar to previous years’ findings regarding who makes up organized labor in America. Data highlighted by Washington Post editorialist Dominic Pino show that for the first time, more federal government employees are union members than those in the entire manufacturing sector. Local government continues to be the largest employer of union members, followed by state government. In certain industries such as transportation and utilities, construction, manufacturing, and mining and extraction, most workers are not union members.
A key issue discussed is whether current political efforts to support unions align with workforce demographics. Although there is interest among some policymakers in appealing to men without college degrees—citing voting patterns that favor Republicans among this group—union membership does not significantly differ from overall workforce gender composition or education levels. According to BLS data, men’s unionization rate is only marginally higher than women’s (by 0.7 percentage points), resulting in a nearly proportional representation: while men make up about 51.75 percent of the workforce, they account for 53.5 percent of union members.
The article concludes that supporting all workers should take precedence over focusing narrowly on increasing traditional union recruitment through policy changes or political alliances with labor leaders such as Teamsters Union boss Sean O’Brien. It argues for maintaining longstanding approaches like the Taft-Hartley Consensus, which allows workers who choose to organize unions to do so while protecting others’ rights not to join or work independently.
Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam commented on these dynamics: “Part of why it’s so absurd when Republicans decide they should swear allegiance to the leadership of the Teamsters,” responding to data showing low unionization rates in manual-labor industries.
The analysis suggests that calls within conservative circles for greater accommodation of organized labor stem more from political calculations and influence from progressive foundations rather than genuine grassroots demand.
