Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Local Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1983	15,143	$8.27	0.5%	$9.68	$7.49	29.1%	11.2%
1984	14,883	$8.82	0.9%	$10.26	$7.93	29.3%	12.1%
1985	14,827	$9.34	1.1%	$10.74	$8.51	26.1%	10.5%
1986	15,074	$9.75	1.3%	$11.39	$8.73	30.4%	13.2%
1987	14,758	$10.31	2.0%	$12.14	$9.22	31.7%	13.4%
1988	14,235	$10.90	3.1%	$12.88	$9.66	33.3%	13.6%
1989	14,200	$11.38	0.1%	$13.16	$10.05	30.9%	12.6%
1990	15,109	$11.87	0.2%	$13.95	$10.34	34.9%	15.1%
1991	14,968	$12.26	0.1%	$14.32	$10.77	33.0%	13.3%
1992	14,496	$12.75	0.3%	$14.79	$11.26	31.4%	13.5%
1993	14,380	$13.13	0.2%	$15.27	$11.49	33.0%	15.0%
1994	15,454	$14.05	0.6%	$16.52	$12.05	37.1%	19.3%
1995	15,099	$14.32	0.6%	$16.84	$12.34	36.5%	16.8%
1996	10,808	$14.65	0.5%	$17.37	$12.59	38.0%	16.9%
1997	10,920	$15.09	0.7%	$18.01	$13.06	37.9%	17.3%
1998	10,609	$15.50	0.2%	$18.23	$13.55	34.5%	18.0%
1999	10,565	$16.12	0.3%	$18.76	$14.29	31.4%	20.0%
2000	10,095	$16.70	0.3%	$19.35	$15.14	27.9%	17.9%
2001	10,418	$17.23	0.2%	$20.17	$15.48	30.3%	19.7%
2002	11,712	$17.80	0.2%	$20.62	$16.03	28.7%	13.2%
2003	11,434	$18.53	0.4%	$21.23	$16.48	28.8%	18.1%
2004	11,173	$19.16	0.5%	$21.79	$17.42	25.0%	14.8%
2005	11,206	$19.23	0.2%	$22.16	$17.35	27.8%	16.4%
2006	10,913	$19.94	0.4%	$22.99	$18.27	25.8%	16.9%
2007	11,081	$20.69	0.5%	$24.00	$18.98	26.4%	16.3%
2008	11,203	$21.56	0.7%	$24.51	$20.02	22.4%	14.8%
2009	11,008	$21.92	0.8%	$25.04	$19.82	26.4%	13.1%
2010	10,260	$22.63	0.9%	$26.01	$20.51	26.8%	13.6%
2011	9,741	$22.99	0.9%	$26.26	$20.63	27.3%	16.4%
2012	9,633	$22.88	0.9%	$26.46	$20.88	26.8%	15.9%
2013	9,088	$23.04	1.0%	$26.75	$21.47	24.6%	16.0%
2014	8,958	$23.82	1.1%	$27.43	$21.80	25.9%	16.6%
2015	8,086	$24.96	1.7%	$28.70	$22.67	26.6%	13.9%
2016	7,998	$25.17	1.5%	$29.24	$22.84	28.0%	16.8%
2017	7,926	$25.84	1.8%	$29.79	$23.79	25.2%	13.4%
2018	7,652	$26.35	1.8%	$30.23	$24.56	23.1%	15.5%
2019	7,242	$26.74	1.8%	$31.45	$25.02	25.7%	15.1%
2020	6,614	$29.05	2.5%	$33.18	$26.83	23.7%	12.3%
2021	6,396	$30.05	2.7%	$34.09	$28.36	20.2%	10.1%
2022	6,179	$31.59	3.3%	$36.55	$29.42	24.3%	12.5%
2023	5,943	$33.07	2.4%	$38.62	$31.42	22.9%	8.6%
2024	6,076	$34.44	0.5%	$40.55	$32.26	25.7%	14.2%
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.