Hawaii ranks third for union membership

WASHINGTON » Union membership in the United States is down slightly, accounting for just more than 11 percent of the workforce last year, the Labor Department reported Friday. That’s just a fractional drop from the year before. New York had the highest unionization rate at 24.6 percent, followed by Alaska (22.8 percent) and Hawaii (21.8 percent).

The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said public-sector workers have the highest union membership rate at 36 percent. That’s five times higher than membership of private-sector workers at 7 percent. Earnings were higher for union members last year at $970 a week versus $763 a week for nonunion members.