Construction Union Membership Steady as Numbers Decline Across Other Industries
Union membership has been dropping across other industries as the number of Americans in construction unions has stayed relatively consistent according to a new report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The report also looked at pay rates between union and nonunion workers and determined that union construction workers made 31% more per week than their nonunion counterparts. Across other industries, union members commanded 17% more in pay.
BlS attributed the possible decline in membership to the employment situation affecting all workers in recent years. Many Americans found themselves unemployed in 2020, however more nonunion workers lost their jobs than union members.
Overall union membership has declined over the decades but according to a recent Gallup poll, the approval rating of labor unions has risen to 68%, the highest rate of approval since 1965. This could be indicative of the impending change sweeping the country across industries. The COVID-19 pandemic has workers looking to organize.
"Across this country, workers are organizing for a voice on the job and millions of Americans are standing in solidarity with union members on strike. If everyone who wanted to join a union was able to do so, membership would skyrocket," said Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
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