Michael B. Sauter and Samuel Stebbins
The U.S. Supreme Court issued in March a split vote on a decision that, if passed, would have prevented public sector unions from requiring non-union government workers to pay union fees. This split represents a major victory for organized labor groups, which have been squeezed by changes in the labor force and anti-union legislation for decades. Just 45 years ago, nearly one in four workers were union members. Today, barely one in 10 are in a union.
The strength of organized labor in the United States depends largely on political and economic forces. Because these factors differ across the country, unions hold considerable power in some states and are virtually nonexistent in others. In New York, nearly 25% of state private and public sector workers are unionized, while in South Carolina, just 2.1% of workers are in unions.
There are many reasons for the differences in unionization between states. In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., David Macpherson, E.M. Stephens professor of economics and department chair at Trinity University, explained that politics is likely one of the biggest factors affecting the regional strength of organized labor. Over half of the states in the country now have right-to-work laws, with West Virginia’s statute passing this February. All of the states with the lowest shares of union membership have right to work laws, while Michigan is the only state with high membership which does.
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“The reason unionization rates are low in right-to-work law states is because those are the states that don’t like unions and so they pass laws that are not favorable to unions.†Macpherson said.
Union membership is also at least partially determined by the industrial composition of a state. Macpherson explained that public sector jobs and manufacturing jobs tend to be more unionized, with transportation workers in particular very likely to be union members. Michigan’s substantial manufacturing sector, for example, is likely driving up unionization rates in the state.
The overall decline in union membership has been due to a massive decline in private sector organized labor. At the same time, public sector membership has actually increased. As a result, public sector workers account for nearly half of union membership nationwide, even as they only account for about 15% of the nation’s total workforce.
