Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment Among
Private Construction Workers, 1973-2012
Year	Obs	Employment	Members	Covered	%Mem	%Cov
1973	2,670	4,131.8	1,632.8	--	39.5	--
1974	2,479	4,017.2	1,490.9	--	37.1	--
1975	2,103	3,464.0	1,284.0	--	37.1	--
1976	2,208	3,692.9	1,321.9	--	35.8	--
1977	2,882	3,975.4	1,425.3	1,495.2	35.9	37.6
1978	3,030	4,422.3	1,418.7	1,495.2	32.1	33.8
1979	3,092	4,563.1	1,451.5	1,548.5	31.8	33.9
1980	3,544	4,443.1	1,370.7	1,431.2	30.9	32.2
1981	785	4,365.2	1,438.2	1,472.6	32.9	33.7
1982	--	--	--	--	--	--
1983	8,053	4,109.0	1,130.7	1,207.0	27.5	29.4
1984	8,528	4,503.7	1,060.5	1,115.1	23.5	24.8
1985	8,748	4,716.3	1,050.9	1,113.9	22.3	23.6
1986	8,817	4,958.8	1,091.9	1,158.0	22.0	23.4
1987	8,814	5,052.1	1,060.1	1,122.7	21.0	22.2
1988	8,543	5,193.3	1,095.6	1,151.3	21.1	22.2
1989	8,629	5,322.2	1,144.8	1,202.8	21.5	22.6
1990	8,844	5,122.1	1,073.1	1,137.1	21.0	22.2
1991	7,806	4,624.1	977.3	1,033.9	21.1	22.4
1992	7,443	4,529.8	906.2	955.1	20.0	21.1
1993	7,491	4,638.1	929.3	972.9	20.0	21.0
1994	7,416	4,866.7	915.9	966.3	18.8	19.9
1995	7,645	5,135.0	908.1	963.4	17.7	18.8
1996	7,180	5,387.4	994.2	1,032.7	18.5	19.2
1997	7,494	5,739.4	1,067.1	1,117.8	18.6	19.5
1998	7,726	5,946.5	1,055.8	1,093.3	17.8	18.4
1999	8,154	6,229.6	1,186.9	1,224.0	19.1	19.6
2000	8,725	6,665.6	1,219.6	1,268.2	18.3	19.0
2001	9,548	6,867.6	1,276.0	1,315.2	18.6	19.2
2002	10,085	6,679.5	1,164.7	1,203.7	17.4	18.0
2003	10,134	7,126.1	1,139.2	1,187.9	16.0	16.7
2004	10,389	7,549.9	1,109.8	1,161.8	14.7	15.4
2005	10,982	8,053.1	1,057.1	1,111.5	13.1	13.8
2006	11,362	8,444.0	1,097.3	1,146.2	13.0	13.6
2007	11,071	8,561.2	1,192.7	1,231.5	13.9	14.4
2008	9,914	7,651.6	1,194.9	1,240.6	15.6	16.2
2009	8,624	6,613.0	957.8	993.1	14.5	15.0
2010	7,899	6,102.6	800.6	838.5	13.1	13.7
2011	7,994	6,242.9	874.8	929.2	14.0	14.9
2012	7,832	6,204.7	818.9	849.3	13.2	13.7
Data sources: For the years 1973-81 the May Current Population (CPS). For the years
1983-2012 the CPS Outgoing Rotation Group (ORG) Earnings Files.  There were no
union questions in the 1982 CPS.  Sample includes wage and salary workers, ages
16 and over.  Variable definitions are: Obs=CPS sample size; Employment=wage and
salary employment in thousands, Members=employed workers who are union members
in thousands, Covered=workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement in
thousands, %Mem=percent of employed workers who are union members, and
%Cov=percent of employed workers who are covered by a collective bargaining
agreement. The definition of union membership was expanded in 1977 to include
"employee associations similar to a union".
© 2013 by Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson.  The use of data requires citation.