DEPARTMENT FOR
BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (2008/157)
issued by The Government News Network on 30 July 2008
STATISTICAL PRESS RELEASE
A National Statistics publication, 'Trade Union Membership
2007' was published today by the Department for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). The report, which uses
information taken from the Labour Force Survey for the fourth
quarter 2007, had the following key findings:
The rate of union membership (union density) for employees in the
UK fell by 0.3 percentage points in 2007, down from 28.3 per cent
in 2006 to 28.0 per cent. Trade union density in the UK has now
fallen 4.5 percentage points since 1995.
Amongst all those in employment in the UK, union density fell
from 25.6 per cent in 2006 to 25.3 per cent in 2007.
For the sixth consecutive year, a higher proportion of women than
men were trade union members. Union density among women was 29.6
per cent in 2007, while for men it was 26.4 per cent.
Of the four nations, Northern Ireland had the highest union
density (39.7 per cent of employees). In Wales it was 37.3 per
cent, and in Scotland 32.6 per cent. Union density was lowest in
England at 26.6 per cent.
Among the English government office regions, the North East had
the highest union density at 35.7 per cent, while the South East
had the lowest union density at 21.0 per cent.
Private sector union density fell by 0.5 percentage points to
16.1 per cent in 2007, whereas public sector union density rose
0.3 percentage points in 2007 to 59.0 per cent.
Across all sectors, just under half of UK employees (46.6 per
cent) were in a workplace where a trade union was present. Over
one-third of UK employees said their pay and conditions were
affected by a collective agreement.
Collective agreement covered around one in five private sector
employees, while in the public sector collective agreement
coverage was over three and half times greater at 72.0 per cent.
The hourly earnings of union members, according to the LFS,
averaged £12.74 in 2007, 15.6 per cent more than the earnings of
non-members (£11.02 per hour).
Notes to editors:
1. The latest release will be available in full at:
http://stats.berr.gov.uk/UKSA/tu/tum2008.pdf at 9:30.
2. Further the "Trade Union Membership 2007" and
earlier reports can also be downloaded from the Department for
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's (BERR) website:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/research-evaluation/trade-union-statisitcs/index.html
3. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world.
It promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads
the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets.
It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and
it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies