The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership in January, and the results were not pretty for organized labor. There are 50,000 fewer union members in the private sector than in 2020, even though the economy added 4,225,000 new salaried workers. In typical style, the unions pointed fingers elsewhere for their loss of stature. In a press release, the AFL-CIO complained that “American labor laws are unquestionably broken.” Other union acolytes fell over each other with comments along the line of, “Yeah, but wait till next year!”
Looking at the big picture, however, the optimism is not supported by reality. As Mike Antonucci notes, the U.S. economy has added 48.1 million jobs since 1983, but unions have lost 3.7 million workers. Taking an even longer view, private sector union membership stood at 35.7% in 1953, but by 2021 that number had sunk to just 6.1%.
These numbers should not be surprising. Generations ago, unions indeed served a positive function. There were often hazardous working conditions, untenable hours, and low wages. But that’s not the case today. There are many laws on the books that protect workers from abuses, and due to a competitive capitalist system, employers realize that protecting worker health and safety, and paying good wages, especially in a tight labor market, is good business.
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