Hawaii retained its position in 2013 as the state with the third highest percentage of union membership, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Union membership in Hawaii rose to 22.1 percent in 2013 f rom 21.6 percent the previous year, according to the BLS. Nationally, union membership held steady at 11.3 percent last year.

New York (24.4 percent) led the nation in union membership followed by Alaska (23.1 percent) for the second consecutive year.

The BLS also reported that nationally there are now slightly more union members working for private firms than in government. That  reverses a five-year trend.

Although the rate of membership among all workers didn’t budge, the overall number of union members grew slightly, rising about 162,000 to nearly 14.5 million.