Union Membership continues to decline in 2018

With all the talk of the Federal Labor party being odds on to get the keys to Parliament house next year, you would think that Unions are on the rise, high with members and money. But not the case.


ABS released their Characteristics of Unemployment again this year which reveals some interesting statistics.


In 2014 - Union membership was at 17% of workers


In 2018 - Union membership was at 15.5% of workers


So a bit of a drop. And for all the talk of the power of the CFMEU and the more militant unions, the bulk of union members are in two main industries. Education and Health. Those two make up 42% of all union members in 2018, up from 40% in 2014.


Compare that to construction, which only provides 5.8% of union members in 2018 (down from 5.9% in 2014).


So while union influence is dropping in the community, even more power over a Labor Government is given to the nurses and teachers.


Expect a Labor government to start pumping in the money into those two industries when it finally gets elected after 6 years in the wilderness.