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Trade union membership in UK falls 2.7 per cent

  Membership levels in trade unions for UK employees during last year fell by 2.7 per cent (179,000) to 6.5 million compared with 2009.  By comparison, total UK employment rose by just under a half per cent in the year to 2010, says a recent Labour Force Survey by the Office for National Statistics.

  Trade union density for employees in the UK fell by 0.8 percent to 26.6 per cent in 2010 compared with 2009.

  In the private sector union densities fell by 0.9 percent while public sector union density fell by 0.3 percent.

  Union density among female employees in the UK fell by 0.1 percent to 29.4 per cent in 2010 as the rise in public sector union density of 0.2 percent was more than offset by a fall of 0.5 percent in the private sector.

   For male employees union density fell by 1.4 percent to 23.8 percent in 2010 as both private and public sector densities fell at the same rate.

   During the last decade, union density grew only in real estate activities sector and to a lesser extent professional and administrative services and wholesale, retail trade and motor repair sectors but fell in all other industries.

   The sharpest fall in union density was in water supply, electricity and gas supply, financial and insurance activities and the mining industry - down around 15 percent - while public sector industries fell by under five percent.

 Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics