Union Support is at its Highest in Decades — and Growing
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2021, union membership in the United States was at 10.3 percent. To put that into perspective, in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the unionization rate was 20.1 percent with 17.7 million union workers.
But with the most pro-union administration in the White House since Franklin Roosevelt, the numbers of unionized workers--despite still being at a record low — is growing, and 70% of Americans approve of labor unions, according to the annual Gallup Labor Day poll. That’s an increase of three percent from last year.
This upswing is due to successful recent strikes that have helped raised people’s awareness of income inequality and the ways unions fight against it.
As we celebrate another Labor Day, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union president Lee Saunders explained:
People know and understand that life is better in a union. They know it means a bigger paycheck, better healthcare…
