Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
White Female Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	14,393	$3.03	0.0%	$3.50	$2.95	18.4%	16.4%
1974	13,888	$3.26	0.0%	$3.95	$3.16	25.1%	17.8%
1975	14,036	$3.55	0.0%	$4.38	$3.43	27.7%	19.3%
1976	14,286	$3.82	0.0%	$4.64	$3.70	25.1%	18.5%
1977	17,815	$4.04	0.0%	$5.12	$3.85	32.7%	20.2%
1978	17,241	$4.32	0.0%	$5.50	$4.12	33.6%	19.4%
1979	16,709	$4.94	0.0%	$5.81	$4.78	21.7%	16.4%
1980	21,481	$5.38	0.1%	$6.33	$5.20	21.7%	15.3%
1981	4,986	$5.52	0.1%	$6.79	$5.39	26.0%	19.6%
1983	61,166	$6.48	0.2%	$8.19	$6.27	30.6%	19.4%
1984	61,705	$6.75	0.4%	$8.61	$6.55	31.4%	20.3%
1985	63,250	$7.11	0.6%	$9.09	$6.89	31.9%	19.9%
1986	65,740	$7.43	0.7%	$9.48	$7.21	31.5%	20.2%
1987	64,748	$7.78	0.9%	$10.06	$7.55	33.2%	19.9%
1988	61,610	$8.16	1.1%	$10.58	$7.92	33.6%	19.0%
1989	62,752	$8.77	0.1%	$11.24	$8.44	33.2%	19.5%
1990	65,656	$9.23	0.1%	$11.88	$8.92	33.2%	18.9%
1991	63,976	$9.70	0.2%	$12.32	$9.40	31.1%	16.9%
1992	63,046	$10.12	0.3%	$12.81	$9.79	30.8%	17.2%
1993	61,656	$10.49	0.3%	$13.39	$10.15	32.0%	17.8%
1994	69,742	$10.98	0.5%	$14.35	$10.51	36.5%	20.0%
1995	68,709	$11.20	0.5%	$14.52	$10.77	34.8%	19.9%
1996	49,732	$11.56	0.5%	$14.89	$11.14	33.6%	19.4%
1997	50,653	$11.98	0.7%	$15.58	$11.62	34.1%	18.8%
1998	50,171	$12.52	0.2%	$15.91	$12.21	30.3%	18.4%
1999	48,391	$13.14	0.2%	$16.51	$12.69	30.1%	18.5%
2000	47,212	$13.76	0.3%	$17.03	$13.36	27.4%	16.3%
2001	49,648	$14.57	0.4%	$17.79	$14.10	26.2%	17.4%
2002	54,441	$15.12	0.5%	$18.56	$14.64	26.8%	15.5%
2003	51,977	$15.55	0.4%	$18.89	$15.06	25.4%	15.0%
2004	51,119	$15.96	0.5%	$19.64	$15.47	26.9%	13.8%
2005	51,798	$16.51	0.6%	$20.10	$16.00	25.6%	12.9%
2006	51,078	$17.05	0.7%	$20.81	$16.51	26.0%	14.3%
2007	51,075	$17.66	0.9%	$21.77	$17.16	26.8%	13.5%
2008	50,682	$18.49	0.9%	$22.54	$17.95	25.5%	13.3%
2009	49,873	$18.75	1.0%	$23.23	$18.17	27.8%	13.2%
2010	46,874	$19.07	1.2%	$23.83	$18.60	28.2%	13.3%
2011	45,468	$19.62	1.3%	$24.23	$19.02	27.4%	12.9%
2012	45,561	$19.89	1.4%	$24.38	$19.35	26.0%	12.9%
2013	43,829	$20.17	1.5%	$24.89	$19.79	25.8%	12.2%
2014	42,899	$20.77	1.7%	$25.21	$20.23	24.6%	11.3%
2015	40,772	$21.49	1.9%	$26.12	$20.83	25.4%	11.1%
2016	41,250	$22.09	2.0%	$26.86	$21.50	24.9%	14.4%
2017	40,983	$23.03	2.4%	$27.63	$22.39	23.4%	10.7%
2018	39,496	$23.88	2.6%	$28.26	$23.23	21.6%	11.0%
2019	37,864	$24.57	2.7%	$29.23	$24.03	21.6%	9.3%
2020	33,967	$26.60	3.4%	$30.34	$26.00	16.7%	8.4%
2021	33,122	$27.97	4.0%	$31.84	$27.06	17.7%	6.8%
2022	33,007	$29.52	4.4%	$33.59	$28.83	16.5%	8.7%
2023	32,264	$31.85	3.4%	$35.64	$31.01	14.9%	6.6%
2024	33,546	$33.48	0.7%	$37.97	$32.54	16.7%	7.6%
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.