Report: Ohio Has 16th Largest Percentage of Union-Represented Employees

Last year, 14.3% of Ohio employees were represented by a labor union, up from 13.6% one year earlier. That’s according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and its newly revised data on union membership.

According to the BLS, roughly 639,000 Ohio workers (12.6% of those employed) belonged to a union. Another 83,000 wage and salary workers in the Buckeye State were represented by a union, but weren’t members themselves. Of Ohio’s neighboring states, only Michigan had a higher percentage of union-represented employees at 15.4%.

Nationally, the highest rates of union representation in 2018 were in Hawaii (24.3%), New York (24.1%), and Washington (20.5%). The lowest rates were in South Carolina (3.6%), North Carolina (4.0%), and Arkansas (5.3%).

Despite claiming the 16th highest percentage of union-represented workers in the U.S., Ohio’s 14.3% figure is far below its level from 1990, when 23.2% of Ohio employees were represented by a union.

Meanwhile, additional analysis by UnionStats.com shows a large disparity in Ohio’s union representation. Half (50.0%) of Ohio’s public employees were represented by a union in 2018, compared to only 8.4% of private-sector workers. 6/13/2019