New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics offers statistics on the membership of American workers in labor unions. In 2025, 14,655,000 workers were members of labor unions. This was 10 percent of all employed workers. In 2020, 10.8 percent of all employed workers were union members. Union membership reached its peak in the 1950s when 35 percent of all workers were members of labor unions.
In 2025, there were 2,204,000 African Americans who were union members. Some 11.3 percent of African American workers were members of labor unions compared to 9.9 percent of White workers. Some 12.4 percent of Black male workers were union members compared to 10.6 percent of Black women workers. African Americans made up 15 percent of all union members.
African Americans who were members of labor unions in 2025 had an average weekly wage of $1,155. For African Americans who were not union members, the average weekly wage was $966. Thus, for African Americans, on average, nonunion workers made only 83.6 percent of the wages of African American union members. For Whites, nonunion workers earned, on average, 82.5 percent of the wages of White union members.
Black women union members had an average weekly wage in 2025 of $1,100. For Black men who were union members, the average wage was $1,230.
