By the numbers
Union membership as a percent of the workforce has been falling nationally for a long time — from about 1 in 4 private-sector workers in 1973 to less than 7% in 2023.
The trend has been similar in Wisconsin, both before and after the state’s 2015 right-to-work law that prohibited private-sector contracts compelling union membership. Among those employed by governments in Wisconsin, 2011’s Act 10 reforms, which limited bargaining to pay and made union membership and dues voluntary, made a more marked inflection on membership rates.
The figures graphed here are from Barry T. Hirsch, David A. Macpherson, and William E. Even at Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey (UnionStats.com). The Current Population Survey is administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. The percentages are union members as a percent of respective Wisconsin employment totals.
The Badger Institute supported Wisconsin’s right-to-work laws and has published research on the consequences of Act 10. We have looked at what the Act 10 opponents had to say as well and covered other research on Act 10’s effects in education.
The underlying numbers
| Percentage of employees with a union membership | ||
| Private Sector Employees | Public Sector Employees | |
| 1983 | 19.8% | 44.6% |
| 1984 | 20.6% | 48.1% |
| 1985 | 17.8% | 47.2% |
| 1986 | 17.7% | 47.9% |
| 1987 | 16.8% | 46.2% |
| 1988 | 16.7% | 48.8% |
| 1989 | 15.8% | 47.0% |
| 1990 | 15.0% | 48.4% |
| 1991 | 14.8% | 50.4% |
| 1992 | 14.0% | 51.7% |
| 1993 | 13.4% | 51.5% |
| 1994 | 12.4% | 51.6% |
| 1995 | 11.7% | 51.9% |
| 1996 | 12.8% | 53.7% |
| 1997 | 12.4% | 56.6% |
| 1998 | 12.4% | 55.4% |
| 1999 | 11.1% | 57.9% |
| 2000 | 11.7% | 55.4% |
| 2001 | 11.3% | 50.5% |
| 2002 | 9.9% | 52.6% |
| 2003 | 10.0% | 54.4% |
| 2004 | 10.4% | 52.1% |
| 2005 | 11.1% | 49.5% |
| 2006 | 9.0% | 53.6% |
| 2007 | 8.3% | 50.9% |
| 2008 | 9.7% | 47.7% |
| 2009 | 8.3% | 53.5% |
| 2010 | 8.4% | 46.6% |
| 2011 | 7.0% | 50.3% |
| 2012 | 6.9% | 37.4% |
| 2013 | 8.2% | 35.8% |
| 2014 | 8.2% | 30.9% |
| 2015 | 5.2% | 26.1% |
| 2016 | 5.5% | 22.7% |
| 2017 | 6.7% | 18.9% |
| 2018 | 5.5% | 24.4% |
| 2019 | 5.1% | 25.7% |
| 2020 | 6.5% | 22.1% |
| 2021 | 5.7% | 21.5% |
| 2022 | 5.2% | 18.8% |
| 2023 | 5.6% | 20.1% |
Published in the Feb. 23 issue of Top Picks.
