Union Membership and Wages in the US over Time

Gold Koala
Quinn Bello, Diana Flores Valdivia,
Lily Pan, Henning Schade

2024-03-01

Introduction

• We worked with the Union Membership in the United States dataset, originally derived from work by Barry Hirsch (Georgia State University), David Macpherson (Trinity University), and William Even (Miami University).

• Union support and activity has recently been rising, so it is pertinent to investigate how union membership has changed over time, and how that change might correlate with changes in compensation.

How Has US Union Membership Changed over Time?

Across all 50 states and D.C, union membership is down, but especially in the Midwest

Union Membership By Sector

Union membership has decreased across the private sector, mainly in manufacturing

Private construction and the public sector have stayed mostly constant

How have union and non-union wages changed over time?

Union wages have generally outpaced non-union wages in the past 50 years

However, non-union wages have recently been catching up

Union and Non-Union Wages by Sector

Evolution of union and non-union wages vary across sectors

Similar rates of increase, but differences in gaps between union and non-union wages

Questions?