Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Transportation, Communication and Utility Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	3,085	$4.85	0.1%	$5.12	$4.56	12.1%	18.6%
1974	2,989	$5.17	0.2%	$5.44	$4.87	11.8%	17.4%
1975	2,910	$5.75	0.2%	$5.96	$5.55	7.3%	17.1%
1976	2,777	$6.19	0.2%	$6.58	$5.80	13.5%	23.5%
1977	3,473	$6.67	0.3%	$7.24	$6.05	19.7%	26.4%
1978	3,367	$7.07	0.4%	$7.59	$6.49	17.0%	25.6%
1979	3,588	$7.80	0.5%	$8.02	$7.41	8.2%	18.2%
1980	4,529	$8.53	0.9%	$8.74	$8.23	6.1%	17.1%
1981	938	$8.80	1.0%	$9.45	$7.89	19.9%	24.3%
1983	10,982	$10.69	2.3%	$11.16	$10.02	11.4%	30.2%
1984	11,043	$11.04	2.9%	$11.57	$10.32	12.1%	29.2%
1985	11,352	$11.46	3.3%	$12.16	$10.73	13.3%	30.4%
1986	11,669	$11.93	4.1%	$12.57	$11.33	10.9%	26.0%
1987	11,279	$12.10	4.6%	$12.75	$11.43	11.5%	27.1%
1988	10,835	$12.61	5.6%	$13.30	$11.85	12.2%	28.2%
1989	10,840	$13.05	0.6%	$14.09	$11.74	20.0%	31.5%
1990	11,363	$13.72	0.8%	$14.57	$12.57	16.0%	29.1%
1991	11,000	$14.09	1.0%	$14.95	$13.04	14.7%	28.2%
1992	10,814	$14.54	0.9%	$15.51	$13.37	16.0%	27.5%
1993	10,533	$14.80	1.2%	$16.02	$13.48	18.9%	31.3%
1994	12,585	$14.95	1.5%	$16.68	$14.02	19.0%	35.8%
1995	12,370	$15.00	1.3%	$16.58	$14.18	17.0%	32.4%
1996	8,224	$15.63	1.2%	$17.02	$14.37	18.5%	33.2%
1997	8,538	$16.45	1.7%	$17.85	$15.05	18.6%	32.2%
1998	8,518	$17.18	0.7%	$18.55	$15.67	18.4%	32.5%
1999	8,337	$17.72	0.7%	$18.86	$16.23	16.3%	32.5%
2000	8,261	$18.53	0.8%	$19.10	$17.26	10.7%	29.4%
2001	8,444	$19.30	0.8%	$19.93	$17.83	11.8%	29.1%
2002	9,061	$19.71	1.0%	$20.48	$18.37	11.5%	32.8%
2003	9,458	$20.51	1.3%	$21.32	$18.99	12.2%	31.6%
2004	9,056	$21.01	1.4%	$21.76	$19.43	12.0%	27.9%
2005	9,287	$21.54	1.8%	$22.78	$19.73	15.5%	31.5%
2006	9,280	$21.95	1.8%	$22.96	$20.49	12.0%	28.2%
2007	9,388	$22.37	1.9%	$23.24	$20.90	11.2%	29.9%
2008	9,247	$23.46	2.3%	$24.68	$21.90	12.7%	30.3%
2009	8,839	$24.09	2.6%	$25.89	$22.43	15.4%	29.7%
2010	8,235	$24.38	2.8%	$26.07	$22.86	14.0%	33.1%
2011	7,925	$24.82	2.9%	$26.23	$22.97	14.2%	30.1%
2012	7,915	$25.38	2.9%	$26.73	$23.75	12.6%	30.4%
2013	7,578	$25.81	3.4%	$27.47	$24.21	13.5%	33.7%
2014	7,557	$26.29	3.6%	$26.96	$24.45	10.3%	28.5%
2015	6,977	$28.24	4.9%	$28.45	$25.82	10.2%	32.3%
2016	7,147	$28.53	4.8%	$28.95	$26.29	10.1%	30.9%
2017	7,022	$29.48	5.1%	$31.05	$26.79	15.9%	33.4%
2018	7,025	$30.38	5.9%	$30.22	$28.03	7.8%	34.3%
2019	6,576	$30.54	5.5%	$31.48	$28.03	12.3%	34.0%
2020	6,112	$33.66	7.2%	$34.18	$30.99	10.3%	30.0%
2021	6,202	$34.15	7.3%	$33.93	$31.83	6.6%	26.1%
2022	6,264	$36.70	8.7%	$36.77	$33.77	8.9%	29.0%
2023	6,196	$40.29	7.0%	$39.84	$37.38	6.6%	29.1%
2024	6,254	$43.21	1.6%	$43.67	$39.61	10.2%	32.8%
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.