According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 17.4 percent (79,000) of Rhode Island private and public sector workers were union members in 2011. This represented an over-the-year increase of 1.0 percentage point, or 4,000 workers. The number of union members were at its highest level since 2009 and accounted for the largest percentage of employed workers since 2009 (17.9%).

Nationally, the union membership rate was 11.8 percent in 2011, down from 11.9 percent in 2010 and well below the 20.1 percent measured in 1983. Among the fifty states, Rhode Island reported the sixth highest union membership rate, trailing New York (24.1%), Alaska (22.1%), Hawaii (21.5%), Washington (19.0%) and Michigan (17.5%). North Carolina (2.9%), South Carolina (3.4%) and Georgia (3.9%) had the lowest union membership rates in 2011.

Regionally, the Ocean State had the highest union membership rate in New England, followed by Connecticut (16.8%), Massachusetts (14.6%) and Vermont (12.0%). Maine (11.3%) and New Hampshire (11.1%) both had union membership rates below the national average.

Union members and workers whose jobs are covered by a union or employee association contract represented 13.0 percent of the nation’s wage and salary workers and 17.9 percent of Rhode Island’s wage and salary workers.

* 1983 is the first year for which comparable union data are available.
Data included within this report is derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union membership data refers to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union. Union representation data includes union members as well as workers who report no union affiliation, but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract. For more information on CPS data, please visit www.bls.gov/cps.