Estimates of Union Density by State

11 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2001

See all articles by Barry T. Hirsch

Barry T. Hirsch

IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Georgia State University

David A. MacPherson

Trinity University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Wayne G. Vroman

Urban Institute

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 2001

Abstract

This paper describes the construction of time-consistent national and state-level estimates of union density for the years 1964 through 2000. Two sources of data are combined to produce these estimates, the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of U.S. households, and the discontinued BLS publication Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations, based on data reported by labor unions to the government. The union density measure represents the percentage of nonagricultural wage and salary employees who are union members, including employees in the public sector. A more limited database, available for years since 1977 and based exclusively on the CPS, provides a measure of union coverage density, representing the percentage of nonagricultural wage and salary workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The databases will be updated annually and distributed freely via the Internet.

Keywords: Union membership density, state union density, collective bargaining

Suggested Citation

Hirsch, Barry T. and Hirsch, Barry T. and MacPherson, David A. and Vroman, Wayne G., Estimates of Union Density by State (April 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=285493 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.285493

Barry T. Hirsch (Contact Author)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Georgia State University ( email )

Department of Economics
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Atlanta, GA 30302-3992
United States
404-413-0880 (Phone)
404-413-0145 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://unionstats.gsu.edu/bhirsch

David A. MacPherson

Trinity University ( email )

San Antonio, TX 78212
United States
210-999-8112 (Phone)
210-999-7255 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.davemacpherson.com

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Wayne G. Vroman

Urban Institute ( email )

2100 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
393
Abstract Views
3,832
Rank
137,944
PlumX Metrics