Unions looking to Biden administration for new energy

Union leaders have seen membership numbers dwindle for decades. Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released in January show the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—the union membership rate—was 10.8% in 2020. Compare that statistic to the union membership rate in 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available, when the number was 20.1%. Despite the numbers, union proponents tout possible new signs of vitality for organized labor.

Recent signs of life

President Joe Biden has promised to be "the most prounion president you've ever seen," and he's reinforced that claim with various shows of support for union causes as well as vocal backing for a recent high-profile union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. The union lost that election in a lopsided vote announced April 9, but the campaign generated a lot of attention for labor causes.

In addition to having a friend in the White House, union supporters can be cheered by recent Gallup poll results showing 65% of Americans say they approve of unions. Poll results released just before Labor Day 2020 show the highest approval rating since 2003, when the approval rating also hit 65%.

Public support has largely been on an upward track since it hit its lowest point of 48% during the Great Recession in 2009. The Gallup figures show public approval hit its high of 75% in 1953 and again in 1957.