1 in 7 PA Workers Belongs to a Union

Union membership is shrinking in Pennsylvania and across the country. A report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that in 2010, the number of workers in Pennsylvania who belong to a union was 770,000 representing 14.7% of wage and salary employees. That's down from 15% in 2009.
The bureau's regional economist Kara Markley says the decline in Pennsylvania's union members hip rate is similar to the national rate which fell from12.3% in 2009 to 11.9% last year.
According to the bureau, in 1989, the first year for which state union data was available, the rate peaked at 20.9% in Pennsylvania and has been steadily dropping since. Markley says that half of the union members in the United States is concentrated in 6 states..."Those 6 states are California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. However, the 6 states only accounted for one third of the wage and salary employment.
The state with the highest union percentage among workers is New York at 24.2% and North Carolina has the smallest rate...3.2%.