It's official. North Carolina has retained the distinction of being the most union-free state in the nation.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 1.9 percent of workers in the state were members of unions during 2014. That compares to a national average of 11.1 percent. At 24.6 percent, New York has the highest rate of union membership.
And when it comes to the number of workers who are covered by union contracts, the results are similar. North Carolina and South Carolina were tied for last place, with just 3.2 percent of employees working in union-covered jobs. (Note that just because someone is represented by a union (i.e., is in a job within a collective bargaining unit) doesn't mean they are necessarily obligated to actually join the union as a member. That's why the membership rate is lower than the representation rate.)
The total number of union members in North Carolina during 2014 was just 76,000, significantly down from 117,000 a year earlier.
The full state-by-state report from BLS can be found here.
