How many unions are there in australia

Employee earnings, working arrangements and trade union membership data from the Characteristics of employment survey for to will be available in TableBuilder from 16 December TableBuilder enables the creation of customised tables and graphs.

There were 1. Trade union membership tends to increase with age. Of the This is a decrease from the Trade union membership has generally declined since Sources: 1. Trade Union Members, Australia 2. Characteristics of Employment, Australia Notes: 1.

The occupations which recorded the highest proportion of employees who were Trade Union members were:. Prior to , trade union membership statistics were published in Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia catalogue number Prior to , trade union membership statistics were published in Trade Union Members, Australia catalogue number Search ABS. Latest release. Authorised by S. Join your union. Campaigns Campaigns.

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Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. Australian Parliament House is currently closed to the public. During the same period the union member share of all employees or union density has fallen from 51 per cent to 14 per cent. Industry union density is strongest in Education and training and Public administration and safety. Under the federal Workplace Relations Act , union preference and compulsory unionism was made illegal both for employees covered by the federal system and for those outside but within reach of other Commonwealth powers [3].

Similar legislative changes prohibiting compulsory unionisation were enacted by state governments [4]. Age and sex ABS data shows union density among employed males has fallen from 43 per cent in to 13 per cent in while union density for employed women has fallen from 35 per cent to 16 per cent. Industry Table 2 shows changes in union density by industry from to Specific union membership Table 3 shows trends in membership for some of the larger individual unions for and International trends Table 4 shows results for union density for a range of members of the Organisation of Economic Co—operation and Development OECD using data from national surveys as well as administrative datasets provided by union confederations or other sources.

Around seven per cent of young people aged 15 to 24 years across the OECD were union members, along with 18 per cent of workers aged 25 to 54 years and just over 22 per cent of workers aged 55 to 64 years.

Only seven per cent of employees in small firms belong to a union on average across OECD countries compared with 16 per cent of employees in medium—sized firms and 26 per cent of employees in large firms. Conclusion Union membership has been declining gradually across the Australian economy over the past four decades, largely as a result of structural factors that have affected employment in various industries, along with the increased use of more flexible forms of employment.