Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Workers with less than Bachelor's Degree
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	33,810	$3.65	0.0%	$4.54	$3.33	36.6%	19.2%
1974	31,958	$3.91	0.0%	$4.91	$3.55	38.3%	19.3%
1975	31,295	$4.20	0.1%	$5.30	$3.84	38.1%	20.0%
1976	31,262	$4.48	0.1%	$5.69	$4.09	39.3%	21.8%
1977	38,068	$4.77	0.1%	$6.21	$4.28	45.2%	24.0%
1978	36,304	$5.08	0.1%	$6.62	$4.58	44.7%	23.5%
1979	40,124	$6.08	0.4%	$7.14	$5.77	23.8%	16.4%
1980	50,363	$6.60	0.5%	$7.74	$6.25	23.7%	16.7%
1981	10,388	$6.37	0.3%	$8.19	$6.01	36.3%	20.6%
1983	116,565	$7.12	0.5%	$9.43	$6.69	41.0%	26.1%
1984	117,251	$7.33	0.7%	$9.74	$6.92	40.7%	27.1%
1985	118,875	$7.64	0.9%	$10.17	$7.22	40.8%	26.9%
1986	122,499	$7.91	1.1%	$10.56	$7.47	41.4%	25.7%
1987	119,157	$8.12	1.2%	$10.84	$7.74	40.1%	25.9%
1988	112,580	$8.42	1.5%	$11.30	$8.04	40.5%	25.2%
1989	115,793	$8.91	0.1%	$11.82	$8.38	41.1%	25.9%
1990	119,930	$9.23	0.2%	$12.14	$8.74	38.9%	24.8%
1991	115,475	$9.58	0.2%	$12.52	$9.10	37.6%	23.9%
1992	113,610	$9.81	0.2%	$12.90	$9.30	38.8%	24.3%
1993	109,877	$10.05	0.2%	$13.27	$9.54	39.1%	26.0%
1994	126,757	$10.50	0.4%	$13.75	$9.90	38.8%	27.3%
1995	125,396	$10.69	0.3%	$14.08	$10.11	39.3%	26.8%
1996	87,012	$10.87	0.3%	$14.33	$10.41	37.6%	26.3%
1997	88,416	$11.26	0.4%	$14.96	$10.78	38.8%	26.5%
1998	87,428	$11.71	0.2%	$15.43	$11.26	37.0%	25.9%
1999	83,037	$12.18	0.2%	$15.70	$11.72	34.0%	26.4%
2000	81,278	$12.67	0.2%	$16.26	$12.29	32.3%	24.1%
2001	84,403	$13.34	0.2%	$16.88	$12.91	30.8%	24.1%
2002	90,426	$13.72	0.3%	$17.32	$13.28	30.4%	25.8%
2003	86,088	$14.00	0.3%	$17.83	$13.57	31.4%	24.5%
2004	84,448	$14.31	0.3%	$18.33	$13.93	31.6%	23.8%
2005	85,612	$14.66	0.3%	$18.77	$14.19	32.3%	23.5%
2006	84,724	$15.07	0.3%	$19.40	$14.65	32.4%	22.5%
2007	84,237	$15.54	0.4%	$20.05	$15.12	32.6%	23.6%
2008	82,032	$16.13	0.5%	$20.82	$15.72	32.4%	23.0%
2009	79,051	$16.34	0.5%	$21.11	$15.92	32.7%	22.2%
2010	74,093	$16.32	0.5%	$21.43	$16.01	33.8%	23.9%
2011	71,612	$16.51	0.6%	$21.57	$16.22	33.0%	23.7%
2012	71,307	$16.76	0.6%	$21.80	$16.45	32.5%	23.8%
2013	68,702	$16.97	0.7%	$22.14	$16.63	33.1%	24.9%
2014	67,464	$17.32	0.8%	$22.65	$16.94	33.7%	25.2%
2015	64,012	$17.88	0.9%	$22.70	$17.54	29.5%	23.0%
2016	64,385	$18.23	0.9%	$23.51	$17.82	31.9%	25.6%
2017	62,628	$18.80	0.9%	$24.34	$18.32	32.8%	24.9%
2018	60,022	$19.65	1.1%	$24.70	$19.18	28.8%	25.5%
2019	57,331	$20.38	1.2%	$25.76	$19.83	29.9%	22.8%
2020	49,195	$21.68	1.5%	$27.04	$21.09	28.2%	20.7%
2021	48,295	$22.38	1.6%	$27.60	$21.86	26.3%	18.9%
2022	48,011	$23.75	1.9%	$29.17	$23.21	25.6%	21.3%
2023	46,717	$25.11	1.4%	$30.43	$24.53	24.0%	19.6%
2024	47,990	$25.85	0.3%	$31.70	$25.21	25.7%	20.6%
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.