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Trade union membership statistics


The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is responsible, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for publishing the National Statistics on trade union membership.

The latest trade union membership publication contains annual estimates of trade union densities for employees and all workers from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Estimates are presented for the proportion of people in employment who are trade union members in both the United Kingdom and Great Britain, and for employees whose pay and conditions are affected by collective agreements. We also provide trade union densities by age, sex, ethnicity, income, full and part-time employment, sector, nation and region.

The 2008 publication includes new additional information, including

  • Trade union membership levels
  • Historical trade union membership levels from 1892 to 2007
  • Maps showing union density, union presence and collective agreements by region
  • International comparisons

 

Previous trade union membership articles may also be downloaded.

Trade union membership and labour disputes statistics quality review

BIS (formerly the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) and ONS carried out a Quality Review of trade union membership and labour disputes statistics.

Information on National Statistics, the Labour Market as well as relevant data can be obtained from the ONS website.