US unions flexed their muscles last year, but membership rates fall to all-time low

By DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Business Writer

Unions commanded big headlines last year, but that didn’t translate into higher membership numbers, according to government data released Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said 10% of hourly and salaried workers were members of unions in 2023, or around 14.4 million people. That’s an all-time low, and down slightly from 2022. The number of unionized workers in the private sector increased by 191,000 last year. That includes workers at auto companies, Las Vegas hotels and Hollywood studios, all of whom went through high-profile contract negotiations. But unions lost employees in the public sector, like teachers and police.