percent, its lowest point in 98 years. So, what are labor unions? And are they still

useful?

Well, American labor unions took off during the Industrial Revolution. The Civil War decimated

rural Southern economy, driving many young people to urban industrial jobs. Labor Unions

formed to unite workers, so that they had some bargaining power about wages and work

conditions. Historically, manual laborers were paid low wages, and then cast aside when

they could no longer do the work. However, when union membership exploded in the late 1930s, laborers

were able to demand better treatment. Since then, many companies have been forced to strike

a delicate balance between their relentless pursuit of profits and appeasing the unions.

Today, with so few American workers belonging to a union, many argue that they should be

done away with altogether. A 2008 report by the Heritage Foundation think tank argues

that unions are obsessed with equal treatment of workers - to a point where individual merit

is nullified, and promotions are only based on seniority. The report also points out that

many of the repetitive manufacturing jobs of yesteryear are now performed by machines.

Modern jobs aren’t as suitable for unions.

On the other hand, the Economic Policy Institute reports in 2012, that the decline of union

membership is allowing employers to undercut low- and middle-wage workers. Their increasingly

limited access to good jobs and economic security contributes to the growing gap between the

rich and poor in America.

So how much power do existing labor unions have? Well, corporations have all but eliminated

private sector unions (6.6% rate). However, public sector jobs still have a 35% membership

on average - especially workers in education, training and library services. A 2013 Bureau

of Labor Statistics report identifies a pay-gap of nearly 4 dollars per hour between union

and nonunion workers - which is over 7,000 dollars more per year. Unions also have more

access to employer healthcare and insurance benefits.

For the workplaces that do have unions, members continue to benefit from higher wages and

job security than their nonunion counterparts - so they are still very useful in America.

However, Labor Unions’ constant decline in popularity calls into question the future

of organized labor. The debate on the ultimate merits and necessity of American labor unions

rages on.

Learn more about American economy by checking out this video here!

This graph shows that the number of jobs added year over year.

The deep in jobs added from 2008 to 2010 represents the busting of housing bubble,

the subprime mortgage disaster, and the great recession.

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