Only one in ten American workers belongs to a labor union. That’s the lowest level since the 1930s and far below the average rate of 25% during the post–World War II economic boom.
Much of that is due to the offshoring of union jobs to places with cheaper labor. But globalization can’t be the whole story. It doesn’t explain, for instance, why union membership is higher in other OECD countries with similar labor costs.
Adding to the puzzle is the fact that public support for unions in the U.S. is higher now than it has been in 60 years. In a recent Gallup survey, 71% of Americans said they approved of labor unions. Yet, paradoxically, 58% said they wouldn’t join one.
“It’s a conundrum,” says Robb Willer, a professor of organizational behavior (by courtesy) at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a professor of sociology and psychology at at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
Maybe people admire unions as champions of the little guy but doubt they can really accomplish much. That would be a mistake, Willer says. “The best research shows that union employees enjoy significantly higher compensation and better working conditions.”
Could it be that workers in the U.S. are simply unaware of how much they stand to gain? Willer, along with Jonne Kamphorst, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford, wanted to find out.
In a demographically representative survey of 1,430 Americans, they found that 89% underestimated the lifetime income benefit of union membership. Around 70% underestimated the percentage of union members who receive health insurance.
“Retirement, days off — in every category we looked at, they lowballed the premium from unionizing,” Willer says. At the same time, 97% overestimated union dues. “A lot of people thought dues were in the double digits as a percent of income, when in fact the average is just over 1%.”
That raised an intriguing question: If people were given accurate information about the benefits of unions, would it increase their interest in joining one?
Correcting the Record
The numbers are compelling. The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that weekly earnings for unionized workers are 16% higher on average for comparable jobs. And a recent academic paper found that union membership is associated with a $1.3 million increase in lifetime income — larger than the gain from completing college.
Would setting the record straight help unions organize? It’s not self-evident, Willer says. There are other factors in play. Some people are put off by perceptions of unions as combative; others (for good reason) fear reprisals. “It’s easy to support unions in the abstract; it’s a whole other thing to take a stand in your own workplace,” Willer says.
So Willer and Kamphorst ran an experiment. They provided half of their survey sample with actual data about the material benefits of union membership. The information was simply presented alongside the participants’ prior guesses, with no attempt at persuasion.
Nonetheless, the effect was powerful. Compared to the control group, which did not see the accurate data, participants who received the correction afterward expressed 11.6% greater interest in joining a union, 7.8% greater support for unions, and 6.9% more willingness to help organize a union or support a strike.
“We found that people were quite responsive to these corrections,” Willer says. “And interestingly, the ones who had bigger misconceptions beforehand were actually more responsive.”
What Next for Unions?
This study doesn’t address why American workers systematically underestimate the benefits of unionizing, but Willer has some ideas. Certainly, anti-union campaigns by industry groups and companies like Amazon have played a role.
Perhaps even more important, he says, it’s no longer common to know someone who belongs to a union. “It used to be that most everyone had a cousin, a friend, or a neighbor in a union, and you could ask them about it. It was a normal thing. Americans don’t necessarily get that word-of-mouth from trusted sources anymore.”
The past two years have seen some success stories for the labor movement, with high-profile actions by film actors, autoworkers, baristas, and magazine editors. Another hopeful sign for unions is that young people are signing up in bigger numbers than their elders.
So far, the overall unionization rate in the U.S. hasn’t budged, but this study suggests that with accurate information, more people who approve of unions might be convinced to sign a union card. So why aren’t unions out there touting the financial benefits of membership?
Willer notes that a messenger perceived to be self-interested may not be the most credible. And the decline in union clout has made it harder to do outreach. “On the whole, these are not fat times for unions,” he says. “When membership numbers are low, unions have fewer resources for promoting their brand.”
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