Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey: Note

Abstract

This note describes the construction and provision of an Internet database providing private and public sector union membership, coverage, and density estimates compiled from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Economy-wide estimates are provided beginning in 1973, estimates by state, detailed industry, and detailed occupation begin in 1983, and estimates by metropolitan area begin in 1986. The database is updated annually and can be accessed at http://www.unionstats.com/.We thank Amy Hathaway of Trinity University for help in the construction of the Database web site.1The Current Population Survey (CPS) is the principal data source from which researchers compile and obtain information on union membership and coverage for states, metropolitan areas, industries, and occupations. This note provides information on the Union Membership and Coverage Database, which provides historical and current compilations of CPS estimates of unionization based on data and methods identical to those used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Database is posted on the Internet and will be updated annually. It should prove to be a convenient and valuable resource for industrial relations and other social science researchers.

Cross-border mergers and domestic-firm wages: Integrating “spillover effects” and “bargaining effects”

“…Hirsch and Macpherson (2003) compiled these data from a monthly household survey (the Current Population Survey), have updated the data annually, and made it available to researchers. We measure unionization in terms of union membership; i.e., the percentage of workers in an industry sector which are actual union members.…”

The Politics of Poverty: Left Political Institutions, the Welfare State, and Poverty

“…12 Neocorporatism is an index based on eleven indicators measuring the presence of cooperative arrangements between firms, labor and the state (see also Hicks and Kenworthy 1998). 13 Next, I evaluated the influence of unionization with data collected from a variety of sources that are designed to offer standardized measures for rich Western democracies (Ebbinghaus and Visser 2000;Hirsch and MacPherson 2000;Visser 1996). Specifically, I measured gross union density as the ratio of gross union members over the labor force multiplied by 100, and employed union density as the ratio of employed union members over total civilian employees multiplied by 100.…”

Librarians and Unions: Defining and Protecting Professional Values

“…the right to bargain collectively for salary, benefits, working conditions, and fa ir grievance procedures. There is significant evidence that within the public sector unionized librarians earn more than non-unionized librarians (Belman and Heywood, 1997 ;Hirsch, 1997 ;and Ackerman, 1980-8 1 ). Formal grievance processes aid significantly in not only the perception but also the reality of due process when disputes or perceptions of unfair treatment arise.…”

“…What is less frequently noted is the rise in the number of employees covered by collective bargai1\ing agreements in the service industries and most markedly among technical and professional workers, including librarians. In 1986, 25.6% of professional librarians, archivists, and curators were covered by a collective bargaining contract; in 199 1, 30% were covered; and in 1996, 32.7% of us were working in a unionized workplace (Hirsch, 1997). Between 1986 and 1996, over 14,000 of us became part of a collective bargaining unit.…”