Unionism and Economic Performance
by Peter Hall-Jones
  

How do union membership levels affect a country's economic competitiveness? Is there a general pattern? We have compared data from the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Report* with data on global union membership density. The results may surprise you. The average union membership we found was 28.1% of the workforce. Compared to this, the 5 most competitive economies had an average union membership rate of 55.1%. The top 10 had an average unionisation of 37.9%. The top 20 had an average of 37.8%. The top 30 rate was 33%. And the top 40 had an average of 27.3. In other words the pattern is remarkably consistent. The more competitive a country is, the higher its unionism membership rate tends to be.

Details are set out below. Density figures are clickable, and will take you to the most recent publicly-accessible source we have been able to find. In comparing competitiveness data with that of the year before (which showed the same pattern) we also note that the two developed countries who are doing their most to undermine unionism have both taken a dive in competitivity. The US fell from 1st to 6th, and Australia from 10th (in 2004) to 19th.

This is an open-source project, and we would welcome your help in adding to, or correcting, the data. All we need is a reliable and publicly-accessible source (please see below the table for some additional notes). You can use this form, or email us here.

You will note that there are still many countries for which we do not have density figures. This is because we have decided to only use data from after 2000. Those already familiar with our work will understand why. To put it simply, the general view that unionism is in decline is false. Unionism has been steadily increasing since about 2000 (if not before). Also, the competitiveness index of countries change fairly regularly. To try and associate this with out-of-date union membership figures would only be a waste of time.

Unfortunately quantitative work on union membership has radically declined in recent years. National statistical digests have generally ceased to include it. International institutions have generally tucked it away in their "too hard basket". And many governments have reduced their analysis to the point where it is simply insufficient to get a meaningful picture. The media are thus free to run their own interpretation, which is generally based around union decline. As an example of how misleading this is, in the U.S. union membership is now disallowed for a full 25% of workers. This figure has been rising rapidly over recent years. Various other factors have also combined to artificially lower membership numbers. But the ubiquitous message does not consider this. Unions are portrayed as ailing and failing, with workers "voting with their feet" and leaving them behind.

The lack of reliable information is allowing the public to be misinformed.

Notes

* The Global Competitiveness figure takes into account: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomy, Health and primary education, Higher education and training, Market efficiency, Technological readiness, Business sophistication and Innovation. Details from the 2007 Global Competitiveness Report are available here. The 2006 Global Competitiveness Report (and earlier ones) are available from here. New Unionism does not necessarily agree with the commentary, nor the methodology used.

** Union density is generally taken to mean unionised workers as a percentage of the workforce. However there are many shades of grey, if not a widespread psychedelia, in the way details are derived and combined. At times we have also had to guess at the exact year for a figure, based on publication date, other references cited, and context. Building this data set will be an ongoing job.
Where the link takes you to http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/resource/subject/labourstat.htm, this is so that you can request a copy of the ILO Bureau of Statistics Union Membership spreadsheet, as noted on that page. This document cites hard copy references, most of which are from statistical yearbooks.