STATISTICS

In 2024, the number of employees who belonged to unions was similar in the public sector (7.0 million) and the private sector (7.2 million). The number of private-sector union members declined by 184,000 in 2024, offsetting the increase in 2023. The number of public-sector union members changed little in 2024. 

The public-sector union membership rate, at 32.2 percent, also changed little over the year. The union membership rate continued to be highest in local government (38.2 percent), which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations, such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

The union membership rate in the private sector declined by 0.1 percentage point over the year to 5.9 percent. Industries with the highest unionization rates in 2024 included utilities (18.7 percent), transportation and warehousing (15.8 percent), and educational services (13.2 percent). The lowest unionization rates occurred in finance (0.8 percent), insurance (1.2 percent), professional and technical services (1.2 percent), agricultural and related industries (1.4 percent), and food services and drinking places (1.6 percent). 

Among occupational groups, the highest union membership rates in 2024 were in education, training, and library occupations (32.3 percent), protective service occupations (29.6 percent), and construction and extraction occupations (15.4 percent). Membership rates were lowest in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (1.5 percent) and in sales and related occupations (2.7 percent). 

In 2024, the unionization rate for women was unchanged over the year at 9.5 percent, and the number of women who were union members changed little at 6.6 million. Meanwhile, the unionization rate for men declined by 0.3 percentage point to 10.2 percent, and the number of men who were union members declined by 216,000 to 7.6 million. The gap between union membership rates for men and women has narrowed considerably since 1983, when rates for men and women were 24.7 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. 

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2024 (11.8 percent) than White workers (9.6 percent), Asian workers (8.5 percent), and Hispanic workers (8.5 percent). Over the year, the union membership rate was unchanged for Black workers, while it declined for White (-0.2 percentage point) and Hispanic (-0.5 percentage point) workers. The rate increased by 0.7 percentage point for Asian workers.

By age, workers ages 45 to 54 had the highest union membership rate in 2024, at 12.6 percent. Younger workers--those ages 16 to 24--had the lowest union membership rate, at 4.3 percent.

In 2024, the union membership rate continued to be higher for full-time workers (10.7 percent) than for part-time workers (5.7 percent). Over the year, the rate for full-time workers declined by 0.2 percentage point, while the rate for part-time workers increased by 0.5 percentage point. 

In 2024, 16.0 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union, little changed from 2023. The percentage of workers represented by a union was 11.1 percent in 2024, also little different than a year earlier. Workers represented by a union include both union members (14.3 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.8 million).  

Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $1,337 in 2024, while nonunion workers had median usual weekly earnings of $1,138. In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, these earnings differences reflect a variety of factors, including variations in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, age, firm size, or geographic region. 

In 2023, the number of workdays lost due to strike action was reminiscent of the 1980s. However, union coverage rates have fallen notably, particularly in the private sector, since peaking in the early 1980s.

Public sector workers five times more likely to be in a union than private sector employees

• Just under one-third of Canadian workers—or 5.3 million people—were covered by a collective bargaining agreement in 2023.

• However, since Statistics Canada began measuring unionization through household surveys, the rate of unionization has fallen from a record high 37.6% in 1981 to 30.4% in 2023, with much of the decline occurring after 1997.

• Indeed, the decrease in the collective bargaining coverage rate was driven largely by declines in the private sector, with coverage falling from 21.3% in 1997 to 15.5% in 2023, while public sector coverage rose from 74.7% to 76.7%.

• As a result, public sector employees were nearly five times as likely to be covered by a collective agreement as those in the private sector in 2023.

Unionization in manufacturing industry down by over one-third 

• The manufacturing industry contributed the most to the decline in the collective bargaining coverage rate in the private sector over the last quarter-century, with the share of employees in the sector covered by a collective bargaining agreement falling from 36.2% in 1997 to 22.8% in 2023.

• Part of the decline may be attributable to lower manufacturing employment over this period, combined with higher employment in industries with even lower unionization rates, such as professional, scientific and technical services.

Unionization rates highest in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec

• Unionization rates declined in every province except Prince Edward Island from 1997 to 2023, where coverage rates rose from 29.4% to 34.5%. One of the largest declines in union coverage was in British Columbia, where rates fell from 36.5% to 30.1%.

• Collective bargaining coverage rates were highest among employees in Newfoundland and Labrador (39.6%) and Quebec (38.9%) in 2023, and lowest in Alberta (24.9%) and Ontario (26.3%).

The unions strike back in 2023

• Going on strike is a final option available to unions when negotiations with management reach an impasse. Strikes were much more prevalent in Canada during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980 alone, the number of person-days not worked due to labor disputes reached 9.1 million days.

• Days lost to labor disputes, however, declined over the next decade and remained relatively stable until 2022.

• In 2023, the number of person-days not worked due to labor disputes rose to its highest level since 1986, at 6.6 million days, mostly due to strikes in the educational services and public administration sectors.

• Indeed, from 2014 to 2023, employees in the educational services industry have had the highest average number of hours lost due to labor disputes per 1,000 employees.

• Inflation, another blast from the past, coincided with the uptick in strike action The spike in strike action in 2023 happened at the same time as another phenomenon that characterized the 1970s and early 1980s: inflation.

• In 1980, for example, the annual average rate of inflation was 12.5%, which most likely contributed to the high level of labor unrest that year.

• From 1991 to 2020, annual average rates of inflation surpassed 3.0% only once. However, the annual average inflation rate rose from less than 1% in 2020 to 3.4% in 2021, followed by a 6.8% increase in the Consumer Price Index in 2022 and a 3.9% increase in 2023.

• Higher inflation may therefore be related to the highest level of labor disruptions we have seen in almost four decades in 2023.

• To learn more about union coverage in Canada and the recent uptick in labor disruptions, check out the papers Collective bargaining coverage rate, 2023 and Days not worked due to strikes and lockouts, 2023.

November 26, 2024. https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7416-state-unions-canada.

In 2023, approximately 5.3 million people in Canada were covered by a collective bargaining agreement, representing about 30.4% of the workforce. 

The distribution of these members varies significantly between sectors and regions: 

• Public vs. Private Sector: There is a stark contrast in union density. In 2023, 76.7% of public sector employees were covered by a union, compared to only 15.5% in the private sector.

• Largest Individual Unions: 

1. Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE): Roughly 800,000 members.
2. Unifor: Over 320,000 members (Canada's largest private sector union).
3. Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC): Approximately 245,000 members.
4. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW): Over 250,000 members.
5. United Steelworkers (USW): More than 225,000 members.

• Regional Trends: As of 2023, the highest unionization rates were found in Newfoundland and Labrador (39.6%) and Quebec (38.9%),      while the lowest were in Alberta (24.9%) and Ontario (26.3%).

•  Central Federations: The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) acts as an umbrella organization for dozens of unions, representing nearly 3 million workers nationwide.  

For more info about these topics, follow these links:

• 16 million workers were unionized in 2024. Economic Policy Institute (EPI): https://www.epi.org/publication/millions-of-workers-millions-of-workers-want-to-join-unions-but-couldnt/.

• AFL-CIO and Affiliated Unions. AFL-CIO: https://aflcio.org/about-us/our-unions-and-allies/our-affiliated-unions.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf.

• How Much of the American Workforce is Unionized? USA Facts: https://usafacts.org/articles/labor-union-membership/. (8 graphs)

• 5How Often Do Teacher Strikes Happen? USA Facts: https://usafacts.org/articles/how-often-do-teacher-strikes-happen/. (chart & table)

• List of Labor Unions in the United States. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_labor_unions_in_the_United_States.

• Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS): https://olmsapps.dol.gov/olpdr/.

• State of the Unions in Canada. Statistics Canada: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7416-state-unions-canada.

• The Most Unionized Cities in America. Construction Coverage: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/most-unionized-cities-in-america#results.

• Union Facts: https://unionfacts.com/.

• Union Membership, Coverage, and Earnings from the CPS. UnionStats.com: https://unionstats.com/.

• Union Members Summary (2024). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20highlights%20from%20the%202024,**South%20Dakota**%202.7%25%20*%20**South%20Carolina**%202.8%25.