The number of Louisiana workers who belong to a union rose by 28% in 2014, according to new figures released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
An estimated 96,000 Louisianans were union members in 2014, up from an estimated 75,000 in 2013, the report shows. Nonetheless, union workers accounted for just 5.2% of all employed Louisianans last year, far below the national average of 11.1%. The BLS also notes Louisiana’s share of union workers has lagged the national average every year since it began tracking membership levels by state in 1989.
Louisiana joined 30 states and the District of Columbia with union membership rates below the national average last year. New York had the highest union membership rate at 24.6%, while North Carolina had the lowest at a 1.9% clip.
Along with the 96,000 registered union members counted in Louisiana last year, the BLS report says another 22,000 wage and salaried workers in the state were represented by a union or covered by an association or contract, while not being a union member themselves.
Union membership in Louisiana peaked in 1993 at 9.4%, while the share bottomed out in 2010 and 2013 at 4.3%. See the complete report. —Steve Sanoski
