A new Economic Policy Institute report documents the strong correlation between higher levels of unionization and a range of economic, personal, and democratic well-being measures. In the same way unions give workers a voice at work, with a direct impact on wages and working conditions, the data suggest that unions also give workers a voice in shaping their communities. Where workers have this power, states have more equitable economic, social, and democratic structures.

The report finds that unions:

• Boost wages. A worker covered by a union contract earns 12.8% more in wages than a peer in a nonunionized workplace, on average. But unions don’t just help union workers—they help all workers by setting higher standards that nonunion employers must meet to attract and retain the workers they need.
• Narrow racial and gender wage gaps. On average, Hispanic and Black workers represented by a union are paid 16.4% and 12.6% more, respectively, than their nonunionized Hispanic and Black peers. The wages of women represented by a union are 9.8% higher than those of nonunionized women.

Unionization varies widely by state—ranging from 3.0% in South Carolina to 25.5% in Hawaii. The report finds a range of benefits in the 17 states with the highest union density, including:

• Higher incomes. 2023 median household income was on average more than $12,000 higher in high-union-density states than in low-union-density states (the 17 states with the lowest union density).
• Greater access to unemployment insurance and health insurance. Unemployed workers are twice as likely to receive unemployment benefits in high-union-density states than low-union-density states. The share of people without any form of health insurance was 5.7% in states with higher union densities compared with 9% in states with lower union densities.
• More spending on education. States with higher rates of unionization spend $22,777 per pupil on education compared with $15,568 per pupil in low-union-density states.
• Greater access to paid sick leave. 70.6% of states with the highest union density have enacted paid sick leave legislation, compared with just 11.8% of low-union-density states.
• Fewer voting restriction laws. Since 2021, low-union-density states have passed 44 voter restriction laws, whereas high-union-density states passed six such laws.

However, union density levels across the country are not nearly as high as they could and should be. While nearly half of all nonunion workers say they want a union in their workplace, just 11.1% of all workers are covered by a union contract. Current law places too many obstacles in the way of workers trying to organize and gives employers too much power to interfere with workers’ free choice. It is therefore critical that policymakers enact legislation that restores a meaningful right to organize and collectively bargain, such as the Protecting the Right to Organize and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Acts.

“Unions don’t just improve workers’ paychecks—they shape the social and political fabric of the communities they operate in and lift standards for both union and nonunion workers. Policymakers must enact reforms that restore a meaningful right to organize and collectively bargain. Rebuilding worker power is not just good policy—it is a democratic imperative in the face of authoritarian backsliding,” said Heidi Shierholz, EPI president.