BLS: R.I. had highest union rate in N.E. in 2018

RHODE ISLAND had the highest union membership as a percentage of the total number of employed in New England in 2018. / COURTESY BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
RHODE ISLAND had the highest union membership as a percentage of the total number of employed in New England in 2018. / COURTESY BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

PROVIDENCE – In 2018, 17.4 percent of Rhode Island workers were members of a union, or 83,000 workers, a year-over-year increase of 5,000 union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday.

Roughly 89,000 workers in Rhode Island were represented by unions, or 18.5 percent of employed workers.

Rhode Island had the highest union member percentage of the workforce in New England, as well as the highest union-represented worker percentage in the region.

 

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New England union membership as a percentage of the total employed:

  • Rhode Island: 17.4 percent
  • Connecticut: 16 percent
  • Massachusetts: 13.7 percent
  • Maine: 12.9 percent
  • Vermont: 10.5 percent
  • New Hampshire: 10.2 percent

New England union-represented workers as a percentage of the total employed:

  • Rhode Island: 18.5 percent
  • Connecticut: 16.7 percent
  • Maine: 14.8 percent
  • Massachusetts: 14.5 percent
  • New Hampshire: 11.6 percent
  • Vermont: 11.6 percent

The United States union membership rate in 2018 was 10.5 percent, a 0.2 percentage-point decline from 2017.

Hawaii and New York had the highest union membership rates in the nation (23.1 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively), while North Carolina and South Carolina had the lowest (2.7 percent each).

The U.S. union membership rate of public-sector workers (33.9 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.4 percent), according to the report. Union membership rates for men were 1.2 percentage points higher than women at 11.1 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

In 2018, nonunion workers had median weekly earnings that were 82 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($860 versus $1,051).

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