Teachers in a union have a smaller wage gap: Wage gap between public school teachers and similar workers, by union status, 1996–2015

Year Union Non-union
1996 -10.89% -18.51%
1997 -11.42% -19.57%
1998 -12.05% -22.91%
1999 -13.37% -22.51%
2000 -14.25% -21.03%
2001 -13.86% -24.52%
2002 -16.39% -24.01%
2003 -15.75% -23.19%
2004 -16.72% -20.37%
2005 -17.63% -23.70%
2006 -17.60% -25.81%
2007 -16.30% -22.89%
2008 -17.01% -22.96%
2009 -16.38% -21.11%
2010 -16.21% -21.23%
2011 -16.76% -22.22%
2012 -16.45% -24.12%
2013 -17.39% -24.33%
2014 -18.28% -24.05%
2015 -19.56% -25.47%

Note: Figure compares weekly wages. Regression-adjusted estimates include controls for age (quartic), education, race/ethnicity, geographical region, marital status, and gender for the pooled sample. Data are for workers age 18–64 with positive wages (excluding self-employed workers). Union representation is defined as being a union member or being covered by a union contract.

Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data

View the underlying data on epi.org.