Name of Report: Union Members in 1997
Organizational Affiliation: A joint project between the Bureau of Labor Statistics & the Bureau of the Census
Author: N/A
Date: January 30, 1998
Contact Information: Division of Labor Force Statistics. Email: cpsinfo@bls.gov Phone (media contact): (202) 606-5902
Pages: 9
Content Summary
This report by the Division of Labor Force Statistics provides information on union membership in 1997 by industry, occupation, demographics, and earnings. The estimates in this report are based on the results of the Current Population Survey ( CPS ), a monthly examination of the national labor force, employment, and unemployment from a sample of 50,000 households. Principal definitions used in the report, data tables, and the CPS are provided.
The report contains a table of union affiliation by selected characteristics, including by sex and age; by race, Hispanic origin, and sex; and by full- or part-time status. Another table provides information on the median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by union affiliation and the aforementioned characteristics. A third table provides data on union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry. A fourth table has the median weekly earnings of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry.
Major Findings
Union membership has declined steadily since 1983, the first year for which this statistic has been available. Three-fifths of union members are in the private non-agricultural industries, with the highest unionization rates among workers in the transportation and public utilities, construction, manufacturing, and mining. Among occupational groups, employees of protective services had the highest unionization rates. Demographic information of union members shows that Black men have the highest membership rates, and White and Hispanic women have the lowest rates. There is a higher unionization rate among men, compared to women, and among Blacks, compared to Whites and Hispanics. The age range of 34 to 64 years was most represented among union members. Full-time workers are more likely to be members than part-time workers. Union members' median usual weekly earnings are $162 more, on average, than nonmembers' median usual weekly earnings. The union-nonunion wage disparity ratio was higher for women than men, and for blacks and Hispanics, compared to Whites.
Related Issues
As noted in the report, the union-nonunion wage disparity ratio demonstrates not only a collective bargaining agreement between unions and employers, but also other influences based on membership distributions by occupation, industry, firm size, and region. The report mentions one 1990 study that describes the difficulty of differentiating the effects of unionization status and other worker characteristics on earnings. The report, although noting racial differences in the wage disparity ratio, did not consider race as one of the worker characteristics that potentially influences wage levels.
Later reports put forward explanations for the disparity, and are worth considering in light of this report's findings. For example, Table 2 of this report shows a significant black-white wage gap among women, regardless of union membership. A 2004 study finds the black-white wage gap among women to be larger than previous measures, due to a disregard of how racial patterns of selection mask the effects of discrimination (Neal).
The report also failed to consider educational attainment as an influence on the demographics of union membership and wage level disparities. A 1999 study explains higher unionization rates among educated black men compared to white men by showing that the relative wage gains from education for black union members and nonmembers are comparable, whereas there is a diminished wage return from education for white union members versus nonmembers (Ashley). A further discussion of minority wage disparities and wage returns from education is found in a 2002 study (Bradbury).
Another study highlights the relationship between wage increases, minority employment, and union membership in the construction trades, and may be useful for interpreting findings of this report (Bloch).
Reference List
Ashley, Terry. "Union Membership Effects on Black-White Differences in Returns to Education." The Review of Black Political Economy (1999): 13-32.
Bloch, Farrell. "Minority Employment in the Construction Trades." Journal of Labor Research 24.2 (2003): 271-289.
Bradbury , Katharine L. "Education and Wages in the 1980s and 1990s: Are all Groups Moving Up Together?" New England Economic Review (2002): 19-46.
Neal, Derek. "The Measured Black-White Wage Gap among Women Is Too Small." Journal of Political Economy 112.1 (2004): 1-28.
How to Access Report:
http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/union_97.htm