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Has union membership been on the decline in Wisconsin?

By Jacob Alabab-Moser
YES

Union membership in Wisconsin is at its lowest since at least 1989, the earliest year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has data. It currently stands at 7.1% of the state workforce.

In all, 187,000 Wisconsin workers were members of unions or employee associations similar to unions in 2022 — down 13% from 215,000 just the year before. Since 1989, membership is down 59%, when 456,000 workers were union members. 

Union membership has been declining nationwide for many years, but Wisconsin's drop is among the most significant. Wisconsin Policy Forum attributes this to the state's passage of Act 10 and right-to-work laws, which waived union dues as a condition of employment for people under a union contract.

WPF also cited production shifting overseas, increasing automation and the rise of service-sector jobs as additional factors in Wisconsin's diminishing union influence.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
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