Union Membership rises 2008 according to B.L.S.

In 2008, union members accounted for 12.4 percent of employed wage
and salary workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, the U.S.
Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The
number of workers belonging to a union rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million.
In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available,
the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million
union workers.

Government workers were nearly five times more likely to belong to a union than were private sector employees.
Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate at 38.7 percent.
Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.
Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (24.9 percent) and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.5 percent).
The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.8 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.6 percent).
To read the full piece click here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm