Trend Analysis of Union Membership

Abstract

Analysis of developments in union membership has been hampered by the variability of official statistics. Use of trend union membership data can give us a more accurate medium and longer term perspective on the degree of union decline or revival at aggregated and disaggregated levels. Across a range of measures, the trend is for the rates of decline of both union membership and density to be easing. This is happening in most states and industries, and amongst most types of employees. Over the longer term, density has been declining by disproportionately large amounts in the private sector, amongst men and amongst casual employees. However, the decline amongst part-timers has been less than that amongst fulltimers, due to the shift towards casualisation of full-time work. Continuing improvements in aggregate union membership require substantial continuing internal reform, building on the progress that has been made within unionised workplaces and developing genuine growth strategies.