The point is that labor is not synonymous with unions, a fact that you could easily miss with all the coverage of union Labor Day picnics. Consider these facts provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- Only 10% of American workers are union members.
- That’s down by half since 1983 when one-in-five workers belonged to a union.
- Only 6% of private sector employees is in a union.
- A third of all public sector employees are unionized.
- The image of union members that persists is a guy in a hard hat or a coal miner, but the reality is cop, a firefighter or a teacher. Those are the most prominent unionized occupations.