Bureau of Labor Statistics

Number of union members, in thousands

The effort by the Wisconsin legislature to curb union power comes at a time when overall union membership has taken a sharp hit, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2010, the BLS said union membership fell by 617,000, to 14.7 million. A decade ago, 16.3 million people were in unions.

Union members now make up 11.9 percent of the workforce. A decade ago, that figure stood at 13.4 percent.

The BLS offers a couple of other interesting tidbits about union members.

• The occupations with the highest union membership rate included education, training and library jobs.
• Black workers are more likely to be in unions than white, Asian or Hispanic workers.
• New York is the state with the highest rate of union membership.

Related:

Public unions arrive at a critical moment

Unions aren’t that popular, but neither are businesses