Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Female Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	16,311	$3.00	0.0%	$3.50	$2.92	19.8%	16.0%
1974	15,782	$3.24	0.0%	$3.95	$3.13	26.4%	18.1%
1975	15,979	$3.54	0.0%	$4.40	$3.40	29.6%	19.2%
1976	16,254	$3.81	0.0%	$4.64	$3.68	26.1%	18.0%
1977	20,260	$4.03	0.0%	$5.08	$3.84	32.4%	19.6%
1978	19,660	$4.31	0.0%	$5.47	$4.09	33.7%	19.3%
1979	19,218	$4.92	0.0%	$5.76	$4.74	21.3%	15.7%
1980	24,732	$5.36	0.1%	$6.30	$5.16	22.1%	15.1%
1981	5,774	$5.51	0.1%	$6.84	$5.34	27.9%	19.4%
1983	70,286	$6.44	0.2%	$8.11	$6.22	30.3%	19.1%
1984	71,152	$6.71	0.4%	$8.51	$6.48	31.2%	20.2%
1985	73,120	$7.06	0.6%	$8.99	$6.83	31.6%	19.6%
1986	76,258	$7.37	0.7%	$9.39	$7.13	31.7%	19.8%
1987	75,108	$7.71	0.9%	$9.96	$7.46	33.5%	20.1%
1988	71,367	$8.10	1.1%	$10.48	$7.83	33.7%	19.4%
1989	72,628	$8.71	0.1%	$11.07	$8.35	32.6%	19.2%
1990	76,189	$9.14	0.1%	$11.73	$8.80	33.3%	18.9%
1991	74,346	$9.62	0.2%	$12.21	$9.29	31.3%	17.4%
1992	73,382	$10.02	0.2%	$12.63	$9.68	30.5%	17.1%
1993	71,785	$10.39	0.3%	$13.23	$10.01	32.1%	17.7%
1994	83,020	$10.84	0.4%	$14.06	$10.36	35.7%	19.1%
1995	82,452	$11.04	0.4%	$14.23	$10.60	34.3%	19.6%
1996	58,106	$11.41	0.5%	$14.62	$10.96	33.5%	19.8%
1997	59,287	$11.82	0.6%	$15.21	$11.42	33.1%	19.4%
1998	58,840	$12.37	0.2%	$15.63	$12.02	30.0%	18.9%
1999	56,752	$12.99	0.2%	$16.31	$12.50	30.5%	18.9%
2000	55,570	$13.61	0.3%	$16.75	$13.19	26.9%	16.0%
2001	58,271	$14.38	0.4%	$17.34	$13.91	24.7%	16.8%
2002	63,540	$14.93	0.4%	$18.11	$14.43	25.5%	16.0%
2003	61,122	$15.38	0.4%	$18.69	$14.86	25.8%	16.0%
2004	60,122	$15.79	0.5%	$19.34	$15.26	26.8%	14.8%
2005	61,043	$16.33	0.5%	$19.83	$15.78	25.7%	13.5%
2006	60,670	$16.90	0.7%	$20.56	$16.34	25.8%	14.6%
2007	60,864	$17.47	0.8%	$21.43	$16.96	26.4%	13.5%
2008	60,399	$18.26	0.9%	$22.13	$17.73	24.8%	14.1%
2009	59,433	$18.57	1.0%	$22.80	$17.99	26.8%	13.2%
2010	56,289	$18.88	1.1%	$23.37	$18.41	26.9%	13.2%
2011	54,751	$19.39	1.2%	$23.98	$18.76	27.8%	13.6%
2012	55,018	$19.60	1.4%	$23.99	$19.06	25.8%	13.1%
2013	53,090	$19.98	1.5%	$24.54	$19.56	25.5%	13.0%
2014	52,174	$20.57	1.7%	$24.97	$19.96	25.1%	12.0%
2015	50,138	$21.28	1.9%	$25.66	$20.55	24.9%	11.7%
2016	50,634	$21.86	2.0%	$26.29	$21.22	23.9%	14.8%
2017	50,326	$22.75	2.3%	$27.00	$22.02	22.6%	11.8%
2018	48,611	$23.66	2.7%	$27.37	$22.94	19.3%	11.5%
2019	46,661	$24.64	2.9%	$28.95	$23.85	21.4%	10.3%
2020	41,868	$26.71	3.6%	$30.07	$25.93	16.0%	8.7%
2021	41,103	$27.99	4.1%	$31.59	$26.87	17.5%	6.5%
2022	41,224	$29.65	4.6%	$32.81	$28.70	14.3%	8.2%
2023	40,206	$31.96	3.6%	$35.10	$30.86	13.7%	7.1%
2024	41,880	$33.52	0.7%	$37.16	$32.38	14.8%	7.0%
Beginning in April 2023, the CPS gradually phased in dynamic topcoding that assigned anyone
in the top 3% of the weekly earnings distribution a value that matches the average within the
top 3 percent.  The estimate of the percent at the cap excludes those who are assigned a
dynamic top code.   By the end of 2024,  no earnings are capped at $2885.
Copyright 2025 by Barry T. Hirsch, David A. Macpherson, and William E. Even.