Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Services Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	10,629	$3.64	0.1%	$4.45	$3.53	26.1%	14.6%
1974	10,166	$3.94	0.2%	$5.07	$3.77	34.4%	18.2%
1975	10,654	$4.31	0.3%	$5.35	$4.15	28.9%	18.0%
1976	10,786	$4.60	0.4%	$5.61	$4.45	26.1%	15.0%
1977	13,431	$4.88	0.4%	$6.15	$4.60	33.8%	15.4%
1978	13,018	$5.15	0.4%	$6.32	$4.90	28.8%	10.9%
1979	12,301	$5.87	0.4%	$6.78	$5.68	19.4%	9.4%
1980	15,998	$6.34	0.5%	$7.30	$6.12	19.2%	9.0%
1981	3,661	$6.34	0.7%	$7.81	$6.18	26.5%	10.2%
1983	46,255	$7.45	1.2%	$9.19	$7.27	26.5%	13.1%
1984	46,238	$7.80	1.4%	$9.67	$7.61	27.0%	14.0%
1985	47,586	$8.26	2.0%	$10.24	$8.04	27.3%	12.9%
1986	49,866	$8.65	2.4%	$10.75	$8.42	27.7%	14.2%
1987	49,077	$9.10	3.0%	$11.50	$8.87	29.6%	13.1%
1988	47,173	$9.63	3.7%	$12.35	$9.37	31.8%	12.7%
1989	48,558	$10.22	0.6%	$12.67	$9.80	29.3%	13.9%
1990	51,965	$10.67	0.7%	$13.34	$10.28	29.8%	15.2%
1991	51,595	$11.21	0.9%	$13.89	$10.79	28.8%	14.1%
1992	51,637	$11.60	0.9%	$14.23	$11.17	27.4%	13.5%
1993	50,674	$11.98	1.0%	$14.78	$11.53	28.2%	14.9%
1994	59,660	$12.63	1.3%	$15.82	$12.08	31.0%	17.2%
1995	59,643	$12.97	1.5%	$16.19	$12.43	30.2%	18.2%
1996	42,250	$13.25	1.5%	$16.60	$12.78	29.9%	18.4%
1997	43,562	$13.73	1.8%	$17.23	$13.34	29.2%	16.0%
1998	43,287	$14.39	0.7%	$17.55	$14.10	24.5%	16.1%
1999	42,176	$15.29	0.9%	$18.21	$14.87	22.5%	14.8%
2000	41,681	$16.01	1.0%	$18.70	$15.72	19.0%	13.5%
2001	44,647	$16.90	1.2%	$19.31	$16.49	17.1%	15.0%
2002	49,012	$17.45	1.3%	$20.03	$17.11	17.1%	13.1%
2003	54,347	$16.71	1.2%	$20.25	$16.27	24.4%	14.9%
2004	53,814	$17.17	1.3%	$21.22	$16.79	26.4%	13.4%
2005	54,817	$17.69	1.3%	$21.45	$17.25	24.3%	12.5%
2006	54,728	$18.39	1.5%	$22.29	$17.92	24.4%	12.6%
2007	55,409	$19.01	1.6%	$23.24	$18.70	24.2%	12.7%
2008	55,936	$19.97	1.9%	$24.09	$19.60	22.9%	13.0%
2009	56,318	$20.26	2.1%	$24.49	$19.91	23.0%	12.5%
2010	54,160	$20.57	2.1%	$25.25	$20.31	24.3%	12.1%
2011	53,079	$20.99	2.3%	$25.74	$20.66	24.6%	12.9%
2012	54,016	$21.41	2.6%	$25.97	$21.15	22.8%	11.9%
2013	52,210	$21.72	2.7%	$26.27	$21.57	21.8%	11.9%
2014	51,300	$22.35	2.9%	$26.77	$21.96	21.9%	12.0%
2015	49,671	$23.22	3.2%	$27.51	$22.78	20.7%	10.4%
2016	50,300	$23.91	3.4%	$28.10	$23.50	19.6%	12.7%
2017	49,933	$24.75	3.7%	$29.02	$24.32	19.3%	11.2%
2018	48,339	$26.01	4.3%	$29.75	$25.55	16.4%	10.5%
2019	46,991	$27.34	4.7%	$31.31	$26.74	17.1%	8.7%
2020	41,377	$29.87	5.6%	$33.07	$29.08	13.7%	7.4%
2021	40,762	$31.32	6.2%	$34.01	$30.35	12.1%	5.3%
2022	41,297	$33.42	7.0%	$35.70	$32.65	9.3%	7.4%
2023	40,214	$35.36	5.0%	$37.77	$34.38	9.8%	4.6%
2024	42,391	$37.05	1.1%	$39.57	$36.29	9.0%	5.3%
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.