Connecticut has the fourth highest rate of unionized workers in the country, flying in the face of a decrease of union members nationwide by adding enough to raise its overall percentage from 17.2 percent of the overall working population in 2015 to 17.5 percent last year.
According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Nutmeg State ranked below only New York (25.2 percent), Hawaii (20.9 percent) and Alaska (19.9 percent) in 2016.
On a national basis, in 2016 public-sector workers had a union membership rate (34.4 percent) more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.4 percent). Workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective service occupations had the highest unionization rates (34.6 percent and 34.5 percent, respectively). In addition, men continued to have a slightly higher union membership rate (11.2 percent) than women (10.2 percent).
Median weekly earnings of nonunion workers ($802) were 80 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($1,004).
South Carolina continued to have the lowest union membership, at 1.6 percent.