January 24, 2022 5:23PM 

# Americans Mainly Reject Labor Unions 

By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) 

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Union membership continues to decline, according to [new data](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union membership fell from 6.3 percent of private-sector employment in 2020 to 6.1 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, membership fell from 29.9 percent to 29.6 percent in state governments, and from 41.7 percent to 40.2 percent in local governments.

The chart shows that private-sector membership has fallen steadily since the 1960s. Michael Saltsman [notes](https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-labors-resurgence-that-was-not-unions-starbucks-buffalo-membership-fell-2021-votes-strike-collective-bargaining-worker-janus-11642969843) that unions may gain the odd victory at a Starbucks location, but that is unlikely to change the overall trend. Meanwhile, the chart shows that the union share in the public sector remains high. I discuss some of the reasons why [here](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb_61.pdf).

The new data will be unwelcome to President Biden, who mistakenly sees unions as centrally important to the economy. He [says](Biden%20has%20also%20promised%20to%20“provide%20workers%20with%20the%20choice%20to%20join%20a%20union%20and%20bargain%20collectively%20with%20their%20employers,) that he wants to “provide workers with the choice to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.” But private-sector workers are rejecting that option, even though unions need just bare majority votes to impose themselves on workplaces.

![s](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2022-01/labor%20union%20shares.png?itok=9tmO07DH) 

*Notes: Chart data from [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf) and [unionstats](https://www.unionstats.com/). For more on labor unions, see [here](https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/labor/reforming-labor-union-laws), [here](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb_61.pdf), and [here](https://www.cato.org/blog/president-biden-labor-unions).*

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[Economics](https://www.cato.org/economics) 

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