The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides invaluable statistics on union membership each year, but doesn’t disaggregate data by occupation and state. So all we have for individual states are total membership figures for all unions. Still, with public sector unions making up the majority of union membership in the U.S., we can get a reasonable picture of where NEA and AFT might be taking the biggest beatings. Some states on this list are obvious, while others are a surprise.
Rather than examine unionization rates, or market share based on the size of the entire workforce, I chose to look at raw totals. After all, a union could decline in total share, but as long as it gained members, it means more money in the till. Members lost equals money lost, and 20 states had fewer union members in 2011 than they had in 2010. I’ve ranked them according to percentage of membership lost:
1) South Carolina 26.3%
2) Idaho 26.2%
3) Nebraska 13.3%
4) North Dakota 13.0%
5) New Mexico 10.9%
6) Utah 10.7%
7) North Carolina 10.3%
8) South Dakota 10.0%
9) Arizona 7.5%
10) West Virginia 7.0%
11) Washington 6.3%
12) Wisconsin 4.5%
13) Minnesota 3.6%
14) New Jersey 3.5%
15) Alabama and New York 2.7%
17) California 2.1%
18) Texas 2.0%
19) Iowa 1.9%
20) Ohio 1.2%
A few things that leap to view: the number of Mountain states on this list; Wisconsin and Ohio with relatively small losses (although we should allow for a delayed effect); the presence of Washington, Minnesota and New Jersey; only 11 of the 20 are right-to-work states, but 8 of the top 10 are. I think we also have a definitive answer to how unions are doing in Idaho.
Without additional data it’s treacherous to draw general conclusions, but I would hazard a guess that the economy and the battles over collective bargaining have made small but significant dents in strong union states, but have really devastated weak union states. National affiliates will make their own decisions about how to bail them out, but for the states at the top of this list, it’s clearly a question of survival.
