There was nothing super interesting about this year's BLS report on union density. Total union density declined slightly from 10.1% to 10.0% and private sector union density stayed the same at 6.0%. But I did notice something peculiar. Even though overall union density barely changed, there were significant movements in individual states. Here are the top ten gainers and losers:
Hawaii, which already had the highest union density in the country at 21.9%, was also the biggest gainer, ending 2023 at 24.1%. Rhode Island was off the charts at the other end, plummeting from 16.1% to 12.3%.
These seem like awfully big movements for a single year. I don't really understand it. And what the hell happened in Rhode Island?
Hawaii and Rhode Island are among the smallest states by population as well as area. Rhode Island is barely over 1 million, and Hawaii is less than 1.5 million.
When the number are that small, each significant event can have a seemingly large impact on the average.
Ken
As a former resident of RI (now in NC) I have to agree
When the Biden recovery was taking place RI did pick up a substantial number of new jobs which has skewed the figures for union workers lower
I don't think there's a HUGE desire on the part of Rhode Islanders to join a union so long as there's no anti union activity taking place.
If wages in RI start falling you will probably see an increase in unionization
I'm old and I simply don't get it. Unions are a necessity for workers. Haven't the workers figured this out yet? Why do they think Starbucks goes out of its way to hold off the unions....This is where workers benefits and higher salaries came from Come on folks, get with it.
the law is heavily weighted against forming a union. when a Republican is president, it’s impossible; when a Democrat is president, it’s merely extremely difficult.
Oregon and Washington are also surprises to me. OTOH, how big is the union-addressable market in those states? That would actually be a good thing to add to the chart.
Hawaii rise may be related to construction hiring to rebuild after the Maui fire.
I edited a monthly newspaper covering labor in Rhode Island for about five years (I'm back to just being a union school teacher for the last five or so).
I've not been actively reporting for a while, but there was no obvious news about decertifying a union or a big union shop closing, so I suspect it is more a matter of adding non-union jobs.
Maybe there was a closure of a union hospital I'm forgetting about.
So it is probably mostly adding non-union jobs. There has been a lot of growth as the former Quonset Point naval base has been essentially turned into a big industrial park/port, which has scrupulously kept non-union (despite some organizing efforts I covered).