Union membership rate and share of income going to the middle 60 percent of families, 1917–2013

Union membership rate Share of overall income received by middle 60 percent
1917 11.0%
1918 12.1%
1919 14.3%
1920 17.5%
1921 17.6%
1922 14.0%
1923 11.7%
1924 11.3%
1925 11.0%
1926 10.7%
1927 10.6%
1928 10.4%
1929 10.1%
1930 10.7%
1931 11.2%
1932 11.3%
1933 9.5%
1934 9.8%
1935 10.8%
1936 11.1%
1937 18.6%
1938 23.9%
1939 24.8%
1940 23.5%
1941 25.4%
1942 24.2%
1943 30.1%
1944 32.5%
1945 33.4%
1946 31.9%
1947 31.1% 52.0%
1948 30.5% 52.6%
1949 29.6% 52.7%
1950 30.0% 52.8%
1951 32.4% 53.4%
1952 31.5% 53.1%
1953 33.2% 54.4%
1954 32.7% 53.7%
1955 32.9% 53.8%
1956 33.2% 54.1%
1957 32.0% 54.6%
1958 31.1% 54.4%
1959 31.6% 54.0%
1960 30.7% 54.0%
1961 28.7% 53.2%
1962 29.1% 53.7%
1963 28.5% 53.8%
1964 28.5% 53.7%
1965 28.6% 53.9%
1966 28.7% 54.0%
1967 28.6% 53.2%
1968 28.7% 53.8%
1969 28.3% 53.8%
1970 27.9% 53.6%
1971 27.4% 53.4%
1972 27.5% 53.3%
1973 27.1% 53.4%
1974 26.5% 53.7%
1975 25.7% 53.8%
1976 25.7% 53.8%
1977 25.2% 53.6%
1978 24.7% 53.5%
1979 25.4% 53.2%
1980 23.6% 53.6%
1981 22.3% 53.5%
1982 21.6% 52.9%
1983 21.4% 52.9%
1984 20.5% 52.7%
1985 19.0% 52.2%
1986 18.5% 51.9%
1987 17.9% 51.5%
1988 17.6% 51.4%
1989 17.2% 50.8%
1990 16.7% 51.2%
1991 16.2% 51.4%
1992 16.2% 51.0%
1993 16.2% 48.9%
1994 16.1% 49.0%
1995 15.3% 49.1%
1996 14.9% 48.9%
1997 14.7% 48.6%
1998 14.2% 48.6%
1999 13.9% 48.5%
2000 13.5% 47.9%
2001 13.5% 48.0%
2002 13.3% 48.2%
2003 12.9% 48.3%
2004 12.5% 48.0%
2005 12.5% 47.8%
2006 12.0% 47.5%
2007 12.1% 48.6%
2008 12.4% 48.2%
2009 12.3% 47.9%
2010 11.9% 48.3%
2011 11.8% 47.4%
2012 11.2% 47.3%
2013 11.2% 47.4%

Sources: Data on union density follow the composite series found in Historical Statistics of the United States; updated to 2013 from unionstats.com. Data on the middle 60 percent's share of income are from U.S. Census Bureau Historical Income Tables (Table F-2).

View the underlying data on epi.org.