Leo Troy

English

Research Papers in Economics

This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic
Research
Volume Title: Trade Union Membership, 1897-1962
Volume Author/Editor: Leo Troy
Volume Publisher: UMI
Volume ISBN: 0-87014-406-5
Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/troy65-1
Publication Date: 1965
Chapter Title: Need for Improved Statistics on Union Membership
Chapter Author: Leo Troy
Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c1710
Chapter pages in book: (p. 20 - 22)20 TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP, 1897-1962
continued to function, it was retained in our
series.Thus the Industrial Trades Union is
included in our series after 1951.
Small discrepancies exist between our series
as presented here and those for 1939 and 1953
in Distribution of Union Members/zip Among
the States, 1939 and 1953.'° In Table 1 of that
publication, total membership in the United
States, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico,
Canal Zone, and Canada, was reported at
6,577,700 in 1939 and 16,217,300 in 1953. If
membership in the excluded areas had been in-
cluded, the figures would have been 6,730,300
in 1939 and 17,147,200 in 1953. The present
figures, shown in table1of this paper, are
6,555,500 for1939and 17,315,600 for 1953.
The reduction of some 175,000 in1939,or
abouttwo per cent of our revised figure, was
principally in unions affiliated with the AFL.
Total membership in the AFL was recorded at
3,994,500,whilethepresentestimateis
3,878,000, a drop of 116,000. The chief re-
vision was made in the membership of the Car-
penters, reducing that union's figure in 1939
from 316,000 (including the Territories and
Canada) to 214,800, a reduction of 101,200.
The earlier estimate was the figure reported to
us in a letter from the union; the later was
based on dues receipts.
Our revisions increased the total for 1953
by about 168,000, slightly less than one per
cent.Once again,the changes principally
affected affiliates of the AFL, but in this instance
involved a larger number of unions. For ex-
ample, the original figure of 100,000 for the
Bricklayers was revised on the basis of per
capita receipts to 133,500. Similarly, the IBEW
was estimated at 547,100 in the earlier report
and 568,600 now, while the figure of the Hod
Carriers was revised upward from 430,000 to
445,600.
IV Need for Improved Statistics
on Union Membership
Although statistics on labor organizations are
of unquestioned importance, there are not only
differences intotal membership reported in
widely used series but also serious gaps in the
data on characteristics of union membership.
15Occasional Paper 56 (New York: NBER, 1956).
Principally, these deficiencies are in the indus-
trial and geographic distribution, and in cover-
age.
For example, a recent study by H. Gregg
Lewis, which endeavored to gauge the impact
of unions on interindustry wage structure, was
handicapped by the lack of time series on the
industrial distribution of union strength. He
was forced, he notes, to make his own esti-
mates of extent of unionism by industry from
"fragmentary information."
Beginning with 1956, the BLS has published
figures biennially of membership by industry,
derived primarily from union estimates of the
allocation of their membership among industry
groups.Since the figures include Canadian
members of United States trade unions, com-
paring them with union membership in the
United States would overstate the degree of
organization of industry.
Our report on union membership by state
for 1939 and 1953 was the first of this type and
we have not brought the figures to date.
Subsequently, the BLS began issuing estimates
of AFL—CIO membership by state. However,
these figures are the unverified claims of state
AFL—CIO bodies and, of course, do not include
membership of the independents (reported at
3,045,000 by the BLS for 1960). In the ab-
sence of a complet.e and reliable series on union
membership by state, it is difficult, if not im-
possible, to evaluate quantitatively the effect of
right-to-work laws on uniOn growth and stabil-
ity.This is an important public issue in the
labor-management field.
Rare and uncertain though the statistics may
be on union membership by industry or state,
the situation is worse when anyone seeks data
cross-classified by industry and state. At pres-
sent no such figures exist for all states.
In large measure, gaps in total membership
and its geographic distribution can be filled in
by use of the union financial reports filed with
the United States Bureau of Labor-Manage-
ment and Welfare Reports. While there are
nearly 50,000 reports, most of the unions be-
"H. Gregg Lewis, "The Effects of Unions on Industrial
Wage Differentials," in Aspects of Labor Economics, Con-
ference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for
Economic Research (Princeton University Press for Nation-
al Bureau of Economic Research, 1962), 333.long to about 170 national and international
unIons and these account for 90 per cent or
more of total membership. To these should be
added about 1,600 local and regional inde-
pendent reports.Since unions of government
employees and of government-owned corpora-
tions are not required to file, it would be neces-
sary to make special arrangements to tabulate
these.
Accurate determinationoftheindustrial
affiliation of membership nationally and by
21
state will require the addition of questions re-
lating to union membership and representation
in the industrial and business censuses and the
decennial Population Census.Indeed, if this
were done in the Population Census, cross-tabu-
lations might be obtained on the characteristics
of union members, such as occupation, sex,
and age, as well as industry and location.If
these steps were taken, a substantial improve-
ment in the quality and coverage of union sta-
tistics would result.
TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP, 1897-1962

Trade Union Membership, 1897-1962

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