Union Membership in Rhode Island 2008

Union Membership in Rhode Island 2008 Download (pdf)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 16.5 percent (78,000) of private and public sector workers throughout Rhode Island were union members in 2008. This represented an over-the-year increase of 1.5 percentage points, or 3,000 workers. Regionally, the Ocean State had the second highest union membership rate, trailing only Connecticut (16.9%). No New England state experienced a decrease in their union membership rates between 2007 and 2008. Massachusetts posted the greatest increase (+2.5 points), followed by Rhode Island (+1.5 points), Connecticut (+1.3 points), New Hampshire (+0.9), and Maine (+0.6). Vermont’s rate was unchanged over the year. Among the fifty states, Rhode Island reported the twelfth highest union membership rate, trailing New York (24.9%), Hawaii (24.3%), Alaska (23.5%), Washington (19.8%), Michigan (18.8%), California (18.4%), New Jersey (18.3%), Connecticut (16.9%), Nevada (16.7%), Illinois (16.6%), and Oregon (16.6%). Nationally, the union membership rate was 12.4 percent, up from 12.1 percent one year earlier but well below the 20.1 percent measured in 1983.*
Over the year, the percentage of wage and salary workers represented by unions in the Ocean State increased as well, climbing from 15.8 percent in 2007 to 17.4 percent in 2008. Throughout the country, 13.7 percent of public and private sector workers were represented by unions in 2008.

* 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.