A Quarter Century of Union Decline, 2000 to 2025

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PLYMOUTH INSTITUTE FOR FREE ENTERPRISE A QUARTER CENTURY OF CONTINUED UNION DECLINE: 2000 TO 2025 Rachel Greszler, Senior Research Fellow APRIL 9, 2026

TOPLINE: For 75 years, unions have been in retreat. This report examines data over the past 25 years of continued decline. Right-to-work states that prohibit workers from being coerced into joining a union have higher job growth than states where employees can be forced to join the union. While some claim that unions are on the “comeback,” the reality is that union membership has declined and likely will not rise unless unions adapt their outdated models.

BACKGROUND: President Biden repeatedly promised to be the most pro-union President ever. His policies tipped the scales in favor of unions, but unionization reached a record low under his tenure. While unions were once widespread, they have failed to adapt their models to an increasingly merit-based, service-oriented, and globally competitive economy. For example, rigid seniority-based pay scales made sense in a 1950s factory, but they are less desirable among today’s more specialized and mobile workforce. Moreover, unions’ adversarial tactics pit workers against employers. But the reality is that both owners and employees share the same goals for success, and neither wants a hostile work environment.

Two things are for sure: workers want to have a voice in the workplace, and employers who fail to give workers a voice will fail to attract and retain the talent they need to maximize their success. Instead of forced unionization and forced representation, voluntary worker organization models could increase workers’ voices and improve workers’ and employers’ success.

• In 2025, 10.0 percent of all U.S. workers

belonged to unions. This is up slightly from a record low of 9.9 percent in 2024, and down by 3.4 percentage points since 2000. • The slight uptick in 2025 came entirely

from an increase in government unionization, which jumped 0.7 percentage points, to 32.9 percent. Since 2000, government unionization is down by 4.0 percentage points. • Private sector unionization held steady at

a record low 5.9 percent in 2025. Since 2000, private sector unionization is down by 3.1 percentage points.

Advancing American Freedom Foundation is a nonprofit institution that promotes and defends policies that elevate traditional American values.

Real Earnings Trends

• Union jobs have historically paid more than non-union jobs, in part because union

members tend to be older and have more experience than non-union members. • The gap in earnings between union and non-union members declined from 21.4

percent in 2000 to 16.4 percent in 2025 as non-union wages grew faster than union wages.

• Over the past two years, union wages have increased faster than non-union

wages. This is due, in part, to several major new union contracts that included big wage increases for large groups of workers.

o Above-market, union-demanded pay increases are often followed by job

losses. Since the UAW’s new contract with the Big Three automakers, motor vehicles and parts jobs are down by 72,800. Since the International Longshoremen’s Association’s new contract for east coast dock workers, jobs in support activities for water transportation are down by 5,600.

3 For more of our research and scholarship, visit our website: www.advancingamericanfreedom.com.

Sector Trends in Unionization and Earnings

• Goods-producing sectors of the economy have experienced large declines in

unionization over the past 25 years while the service sectors have experienced smaller declines in unionization and even a few gains. • There is no clear correlation between changes in unionization rates and real

wage growth across sectors.

o For example, the four sectors with the largest real wage gains

(healthcare and social services, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and utilities) had the second and third lowest and the second and third highest declines in unionization.

• Younger workers ages 16-24 experienced a bump in unionization, from 4.3 percent

in 2024 to 4.7 percent in 2025, but younger workers make up only 6.1 percent of all union members. • Some significant shifts in unionization occurred across racial classifications in

2025: white unionization increased from 9.6 to 9.9 percent; black unionization fell from 11.8 to 11.4 percent; and Hispanic unionization rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent. • Since 2000, unionization rates have declined the most among older workers who

are older, male, and black.

4 For more of our research and scholarship, visit our website: www.advancingamericanfreedom.com.

Right-To-Work States Have Higher Job Growth than Forced-Unionism States

• States with right-to-work laws, which give workers the right to choose whether to pay dues to a labor union and which prevent workers from being fired for refusing to give money to an unwanted union, have experienced significantly higher private sector job gains and slightly higher private sector real wage growth than states that allow workers to be subject to compulsory union dues. • Between 2000 and 2024, private

sector employment in right-to-work states grew by 14.0 million (27.0 percent) compared to employment gains of 8.5 million (14.7 percent) in forced-unionism states. • Between 2000 and 2024, private

sector real wages grew by 18.7 percent in right-to-work states and by 18.1 percent in forced-unionism states.

5 For more of our research and scholarship, visit our website: www.advancingamericanfreedom.com.

How Unions Can Broaden Their Appeal

• Younger workers ages 16-24 experienced a bump in unionization, from 4.3 percent

in 2024 to 4.7 percent in 2025, but younger workers make up only 6.1 percent of all union members. • The modern workforce is not well-suited to one-size-fits-all compensation

structures that union negotiators commonly pursue in contract negotiations. • Unions’ forced representation model, where every employee in a unionized

workplace is subject to a union-negotiated contract whether they like it or not, strips individual workers of their voices and can prevent workers from negotiating for what is best for them. • Ensuring that collective bargaining only occurs between groups of workers and

employers who voluntarily agree to do so would improve the value of union membership for workers. • Purely voluntary bargaining is the real solution to union officials’ complaint that

they are forced to represent “free riding” non-members who don’t pay dues. In reality, unionized workers who opt-out of paying dues have no choice but to be subject to the forced representation contract in their workplace. Voluntary bargaining would change that. • Through voluntary worker association, unions could attract workers who want to

obtain pooled health insurance and other workplace benefits, or by offering continuing education—such as in advanced manufacturing or Artificial Intelligence—to help workers grow in their field or to learn a new skill or trade. • Unions could also offer limited-service representation, similar to major league

sports associations often bargain for baseline benefits and salaries while still allowing individual players to negotiate for additional terms and compensation.

BOTTOM LINE: Outside of government jobs, unionization in the U.S. remains at a record low. Though historically, union jobs tended to be higher-paying, non-union wages have increased faster than union wages in recent decades, and there is no clear correlation across sectors between changes in unionization rates and wage gains.

There is a clear correlation, however, between private sector job growth and right-to- work laws that give workers the choice between joining or not joining a union, with right-to-work states experiencing nearly twice as many private sector job gains as forced-unionism states. Union members have grown slightly younger, whiter, and more female.

The long-term decline in private sector unionization is unlikely to reverse course unless unions adapt to the modern workforce by offering voluntary membership and representation, less hostile employer relations, and more in-demand services.

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