Minnesota union membership declined in 2022: BLS

Union membership dropped in Minnesota last year, per recently released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The big picture: 10.1% of U.S. workers were unionized in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021 and a high of 20.1% in 1983, the first year the BLS reported comparable figures, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.

Zoom in: The share of Minnesota workers represented by a union dropped by two percentage points last year, from 17.1% to 15.2%.

• Total union membership in the state also declined, from 416,000 in 2021 to 382,000 in 2022.

Yes, but: 2022 was still a big year for the local labor movement. High-profile strikes by teachers and nurses led to contract wins.

The bottom line: Local workers at employers large and small formed unions last year, but it wasn't enough to counter the overall downward trend.