Official Statistics

Trade union membership, UK, 1995 to 2024: statistical bulletin

Published 22 May 2025

Headline statistics

As these statistics are primarily based on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, they have been re-classified as official statistics in development. More details can be found in the accompanying technical information document.

The proportion of UK employees who were trade union members fell to 22.0% in 2024, down from 22.4% in 2023. This represents the lowest union membership rate on record among UK employees for which we have comparable data (since 1995).

The number of employees in the UK who were trade union members fell slightly by 38,000 on the year to 6.4 million in 2024.

The number of male employees who were union members fell by 172,000 to 2.7 million in 2024. The number of female employees who were union members increased by 134,000 on the year to 3.7 million.

Public and private sectors

The fall in trade union numbers among employees was also driven by the fall in private sector members, down 57,000 on the year to 2.5 million in 2024.

There was an increase in trade union membership numbers among public sector employees of 20,000 to 3.9 million in 2024, driven by an increase in female employee union membership of 87,000. The number of male public sector employees who were union members decreased by 67,000 in 2024.

Characteristics

Close to two-thirds (64%) of employee union members have a degree or equivalent or other higher education qualification compared to 51% of non-union employees and 53% of all employees.

Over 4 in 10 (43%) of employees who were trade union members had been with their current employer for 10 years or more, compared to under a quarter (23%) of non-union member employees.

Nations and regions

The proportion of employees who were trade union members decreased in England, Scotland and Wales, in 2024. The biggest decrease was of 3.4 percentage points to 29.5% in Wales. The proportion of employees who were trade union members in Northern Ireland increased by 0.3 percentage points to 34.0%.

Introduction

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is responsible for publishing the statistics on trade union membership. The statistics are published on an annual basis.

Data quality

The statistics published in the Trade Union Membership Statistics bulletin are primarily drawn from the LFS. The accreditation for these statistics has been changed to official statistics in development.

This accords with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which has changed the accreditation of headline statistics from the LFS to official statistics in development as reduced numbers of respondents (achieved sample), particularly in the second half of 2023, have led to an increased volatility in LFS estimates.

In line with the ONS, we advise caution when interpreting short-term changes, especially when looking at detailed breakdowns. As set out in their Labour market transformation update, the ONS has been carrying out an LFS Recovery Plan initiated in October 2023, which has led to some improvements in achieved sample. The ONS is also working towards the introduction of a Transformed LFS.

Background

Official government statistics on trade union membership have been collected on a regular basis since 1892 from administrative records. Coverage of the data relates to unions scheduled or listed in Great Britain (and regulated by the Certification Officer) but will include union members from outside the UK as well as union members not in employment.

An annual question on trade union membership was introduced into the LFS in 1989 and it has been asked in the fourth quarter (Q4) every year since 1992. Questions on trade union presence were added in 1993, and the question on collective agreements between an employer and a trade union was introduced in 1996. The LFS trade union questions have United Kingdom coverage from 1995 onwards. The publication primarily produces UK statistics for the period 1995 to 2024, with some headline Great Britain statistics going back to 1989. 

The bulletin primarily reports statistics on trade union membership among employees estimated from the LFS. It also reports on:

• trade union membership among those in employment, from the LFS (Tables 1.3a, 1.3b)
• trade union presence in the workplace, from the LFS (Table 1.10, 2.4a and 4.3)
• whether employee’s pay and terms and conditions are directly affected by agreements between the employer and a trade union, from the LFS (Table A18 and A19)
• administrative statistics on trade union membership collected by government (Table 1.1)
• employee jobs where pay is set with reference to an agreement affecting more than one employee (collective agreement) – using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) (Tables 1.11, 2.4b and 4.4).

Data from ASHE more accurately records the proportion of workers whose pay is set by collective agreements. ASHE is a survey of employers, while the LFS is a survey of individuals, and there may be a lack of awareness among some individuals about how their terms and conditions are set (see Technical Information section for more details). We continue to provide the LFS based data on collective agreement coverage in the annexes of the tables published alongside the bulletin.

The statistics within this bulletin provide a record of collective representation of employees in the UK workforce and how this has changed over time. The information is mainly reported as the proportion of employees that were trade union members (trade union membership density), but some data on membership numbers is also included. These estimates are also presented by age, gender, ethnicity, income, major occupation, industry, full and part-time employment, sector, nation, and region.

The data reported in this bulletin are published in the accompanying spreadsheets.

Conventions

The statistics presented in this bulletin are based on fourth quarter estimates (October to December) from the LFS unless otherwise specified. Members of the armed forces are excluded from analysis. All tables and charts relate to employees (population aged 16 or over in paid employment) or those in employment in the United Kingdom apart from those specified in Chapter 1 (Long Term Trends).

More detailed information on the concepts, methods, and quality of data used in this bulletin is available in the technical information and concepts and definitions sections.

Symbols

The following symbols are used in the accompanying tables:

[u] – sample size too small for a reliable estimate

[x] – data not available

Weighting

This publication uses the latest available LFS weights for each year for its statistics. The datasets for the years 2019 to 2024 have been re-weighted to 2024 weights (based on mid-year population estimates for 2022) which has increased estimated numbers of the working age population and those in employment.

The re-weighting has resulted in uplifts in headline levels estimates of between 30,000 to 80,000, and marginal increases in headline union density estimates.

Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS)

The Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) will be split into 2 surveys: a short 15-minute ‘core’ labour market survey, and a separate cross-sectional ‘plus’ survey which will also collect other data, including on trade union membership.

The ONS will carry out a readiness assessment in July 2026 in collaboration with the main users of the LFS on whether to move to the TLFS for headline labour market indicators in November 2026. It is likely that the TLFS would only provide trade union membership data for Great Britain.

The TLFS involves a larger sample of households each quarter, and an online-first survey collection mode. View the latest update on the TLFS.

Long term and recent trends

In the data tables accompanying this publication, Table 1.1 shows the long-term administrative data of union membership, Table 1.2a shows UK employee union membership levels and Table 1.2b shows UK employee union density levels.

Trade union employee membership levels decrease after rising in the previous year.

The latest data shows that in 2024, trade union membership levels among UK employees decreased by 38,000 on the year to 6.4 million. This decrease in employee membership levels partially offsets the recovery in employee membership levels of 101,000 in the previous year. Employee union membership levels remain above the recent low of 6.2 million in 2016, but down from the recent high of 6.6 million in 2020.

The proportion of employees that were union members also decreased from 22.4% in 2023 to 22.0% in 2024. This follows a 0.1 percentage point increase on the year in 2023. The LFS estimates that civilian employee numbers overall rose by around 519,000 in 2024, which alongside falling employee union membership levels accounts for the fall in union membership density.^{[footnote 1]}

Union membership has declined in the past 4 decades, though the decline has slowed 

Trade union membership levels as reported by the unions listed in Great Britain reached their peak in 1979 (13.2 million) and declined sharply through the 1980s and early 1990s. From 1996 onwards, the rate of decline slowed significantly, with occasional years of slight growth interspersed with the general annual reductions in membership. In 2022 to 2023, unions reported membership at 6.7 million^{[footnote 2]}, up slightly on the year but down 15.7% from the 1996 level of 7.9 million.

The trend since 1995 for numbers of employees who are trade union members as estimated from the LFS is similar. However, while there are significant falls in employee membership levels in the late 2000s, 2016 and in the 2 years to 2022, there are also periods of broad stability: between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, and between 2011 and 2015. There was also a slight recovery in 2017 to 2020. Overall, between 1995 and 2024 union membership levels among UK employees fell by 735,000 (10.3%) from 7.1 million to 6.4 million.

Union membership as a proportion of employees has fallen from 32.4% in 1995 to 22.0% in 2024. This is due to overall UK civilian employee numbers rising in the period by around 7.3 million to 29.2 million, while union membership among employees fell.

The decline in employee membership from 1995 primarily occurred in the private sector

Across all employees in 2024, there was a large decrease in union membership among male employees compared to a slightly smaller increase among female employees. Among male employees, the fall in union membership was driven by a fall of 104,000 in the private sector, with a smaller decrease of 67,000 in the public sector. Membership among female employees in the private sector increased on the year by 47,000, with female employee membership in the public sector increasing by 87,000.

Estimates from the LFS show that trade union membership among public sector employees increased by 20,000 in 2024 to 3.9 million. This was the second consecutive annual increase, following an increase of 10,000 in 2023, which was preceded by falls in 2021 and 2022 of a larger magnitude (69,000 and 38,000). Among private sector employees, there was a decrease in union membership of 57,000 to 2.5 million in 2024. This means that despite making up a smaller percentage of total employees, union membership is more heavily concentrated among public sector workers.

Over the longer-term, union membership among public sector employees has stayed relatively stable compared to membership in the private sector, where there has been a steady decline. Total trade union membership in the private sector has declined by 918,000 since 1995, a fall of 27.1%. Total membership in the public sector has increased by 182,000, an increase of 4.9%.

LFS estimates show that there was an increase in the proportion of public sector employees that were union members in 2024, and a decrease in the proportion of private sector employees. Union membership density among public sector employees increased from 49.5% in 2023 to 49.9% in 2024, while among private sector employees it decreased from 12.2% to 11.7%.

This proportion of private sector employees that were union members in 2024 is the lowest on record number in comparable statistics going back to 1995. Whilst the number of public sector employees that are trade union members has increased since 1995, the proportion of public sector employees that are trade union members has fallen by 11.4 percentage points over the same period.

The LFS estimates for employees in the public and private sector differ from the ONS Public Sector Employment statistical release. The LFS bases its definition of sector according to how individuals define whether the organisation they work for is a private company (private business or limited company) or some other organisation (and if so, what type of organisation, from central government to charity to public limited company to grant funded organisation etc). The ONS release is based on a survey of public sector employers in accordance with the UK National Accounts sector definitions.

Overall, our estimates using the LFS sector variable have public sector employee numbers at over 7.7 million in 2024. This compares to a 6 million figure (excluding the military) for December 2024 from the ONS April 2025 Labour Market release. It is the main public sector industries (predominantly Public Administration and Defence and Education) that largely account for the difference between the LFS public sector estimate, and the figures reported in the ONS release.

Figure 1: trade union membership levels among employees in the UK and Great Britain, 1892 to 2024

Source: administrative data on union membership from Department for Employment (1892 to 1973), and the Certification Office (1974 to 2024). Data on employees that are trade union members in the UK and Great Britain is based on the Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Figure 1 shows trade union membership levels using administrative data collected from trade unions listed in Great Britain from 1892 to 2022-23, and trade union membership levels among employees in UK and Great Britain from 1995 to 2024 estimated from the LFS.

The administrative data shows membership rising sharply from the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s, and again in the 1970s, reaching a peak of 13.2 million in 1979. The levels fell sharply until the mid-1990s, since when the decline has continued at a much slower pace.

The LFS data echo that, with membership levels among employees down from the 1995 level. For much of the period membership numbers have been stable, interspersed with short periods of decline.

Figure 2: trade union membership levels in the UK, 1995 to 2024

Source: administrative data on union membership from the Certification Office (1974 to 2024). Data on UK employees that are trade union members is based on the Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Figure 2 shows administrative data on union membership and LFS estimates of UK employees who are union members from 1995 onwards. The administrative data shows a generally slow general decline in union membership across the period from around 8 million members to 6.7 million in 2022 to 2023.

The LFS data shows general stability in membership levels until around 2007 (of over 7 million), then a fall from 2008 to 2011, before stability until 2015 (at around or slightly under 6.5 million) then a fall to 6.2 million in 2016, before recovery to 6.6 million in 2020, and then decreasing slightly to 6.4 million in 2024.

The proportion of female employees who are union members has risen on the year

In 2024, the proportion of female employees who are members of trade unions increased by 0.5 percentage points to 25.1%, which was the second lowest rate since comparable records began in 1995. Union membership among female employees increased by 134,000 to 3.7 million in 2024.

Conversely, the proportion of UK male employees who were in a trade union decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 18.8% in 2024, the lowest rate since comparable records began in 1995. Membership levels for male employees decreased by 172,000 on the year to 2.7 million in 2024, the lowest level since comparable statistics began in 1995.

The overall decline in union membership among employees has been driven by a faster decrease in membership among males, leading to females accounting for the majority of union membership among employees from 2005 onwards. In 1995, 35% of male employees and just under 30% of female employees were trade union members in the UK. By 2002, around 29% of employees in both genders were union members.

Since then, the proportion of male employees who are union members has fallen by 9.9 percentage points to 18.8%, compared to a 3.9 percentage point decline in membership rates among female employees over the same period to 25.1%.

These changes may partly be explained by changes in the nature of the UK labour market since 1995^{[footnote 3]}:

• female employees have increased as a proportion of overall employees
• there has been a substantial decline in the number of employees (and a faster decline in employees who are union members) working in Manufacturing, where male employees account for just under three-quarters of the total
• there have been big increases in the number of employees in Education and Human Health and Social Care, where female employees comprise over 70% of the total. Close to 60% of the increase in the number of female employees was accounted for by jobs in these relatively highly unionised industries

Figure 3: percentage of UK employees who are trade union members by gender, 1995 to 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 3 shows union membership as a proportion of UK employees, split by gender from 1995 to 2024. It shows that union membership density for male employees has been on a fairly consistent decline over the period from 35% in 1995 to 18.8% in 2024.

For female employees, union membership density has been much flatter – varying between 29.7% and 28.4% from 1995 up until 2012, and then it fell to 25.6% by 2017, recovering to 27.1% in 2020, then dropping to 25.1% in 2024.

Employees in larger workplaces are more likely to have a union presence in their workplace

Employees who worked in larger workplaces (with 50 or more staff) were more likely to be members of a trade union and to have a trade union presence in the workplace (Table 1.10).

In 2024, 27.9% of employees in larger workplaces were union members, with 63.7% having a union presence. In contrast, only 14.4% of employees at smaller workplaces (fewer than 50 employees) were union members, and 29.9% had a union presence.

The proportions of employees who belong to a trade union were highest in the Education sector at 45.0%, followed by Public Administration and Defence (42.3%), Human Health and Social Work (36.5%) and Transportation and Storage (34.8%). Membership density in these industries was significantly higher than membership density across all employees (22.0%).

Similarly, employees in industries with high membership density also had a high proportion of union presence in their workplace (85.1% in Public Administration and Defence, 80.3% in Education, and 66.1% in Human Health and Social Work). Employees in the utilities industries also have high union presence in their workplaces (Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply at 72.1%, Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation at 53.5%).

Northern Ireland was the nation with the highest membership density (34.0%), whereas employees in Wales had the highest trade union presence in their workplaces (59.4%). Among English regions, employees in the North East had the highest union membership density (25.6%) and had the highest trade union presence in their workplaces at 57.7% (Table 1.10).

Employees working in large workplaces or working in the public sector are more likely to have had their pay set by a collective agreement

The ASHE^{[footnote 4]} data on collective agreements are used to provide the primary measure for collective agreement coverage. For 2024, the ASHE data shows that around 40.2% of jobs had pay set with reference to an agreement covering multiple employees (collective agreement).

In the public sector, around 89.2% of jobs had pay set by such agreements, compared to around 20.1% of jobs in the private sector and 49.0% in the not-for-profit sector. Around 67.6% of public sector jobs and 26.7% of not-for-profit sector jobs had their pay set by national or industry agreements.

In contrast, private sector jobs where pay was set with reference to collective agreements were most likely to reference organisational (employer level) agreements (8.2%) or workplace agreements (6.9%).

Employees jobs in medium and large enterprises of ‘50 to 249’ (17.6%) and ‘250 or more’ (55.9%) employees were more likely to have pay set with reference to a collective agreement in 2024. This compared to 10.0% of employee jobs in micro (1 to 9 employees) employers and 10.4% in small (10 to 49 employees) employers (Table 1.11).

The industries with high union membership densities tended to have a higher proportion of jobs where employees’ pay is set with reference to a collective agreement, most notably in Public Administration and Defence (93.1%), and in Education (76.6%). The next highest proportion was in Health and Social Work at 60.5% (Table 1.11).

Scotland was the nation with the highest proportion of employee jobs where pay is set with reference to a collective agreement (54.9%). Among English regions, the highest proportion was in the North East (44.3%) (Table 1.11).

In contrast, LFS estimates suggested that around 27.0% of employees had their pay and conditions of employment directly affected by an agreement between their employer and a trade union: 13.4% of employees in the private sector and 63.7% in the public sector. As discussed in the accompanying technical information document, one factor in the difference between the LFS and ASHE figures is potentially a lack of awareness among some individuals about how their terms and conditions are set. This is because ASHE is a survey of employers, whereas the LFS is a survey of individuals.

Employees in permanent jobs and full-time jobs are more likely to be trade union members

Overall, 22.5% of employees in permanent positions belonged to a trade union in 2024, compared to 12.9% of employees in temporary positions (Table 1.4).

A higher proportion of full-time employees (22.8%) compared to part-time employees (19.2%) had trade union membership in 2024. This trend was reflected across 8 of 9 major occupation groups, the exception being Professional occupations (30.7% full-time, 48.9% part-time).

Among employees that are trade union members, 78.7% work full-time, higher than among employees overall at 76.5% (Table 3.1).

Employees in professional occupations are more likely to be trade union members

Those working in Professional occupations accounted for 42.4% of employees who were trade union members in 2024, but only 27.4% of UK employees overall, indicating that this occupational group is relatively highly unionised.

This was reflected in the high proportion of employees in Professional occupations that were trade union members in 2024 (33.4%). This was 1.1 percentage points lower than in 2023 (34.5%), and 0.5 percentage points lower than in 2022 (33.9%).

The larger fall in the percentage of professional employee union members between 2020 and 2021 (38.9% to 35.2%) was driven by the change in Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) from SOC 2010 to SOC 2020. This led to many workers being reclassified into different major occupation groups.

Specifically, more than 500,000 employees were newly classified under Professional occupations, primarily moving from Associate Professional and Technical occupations. This was primarily due to degree level qualifications becoming increasingly important in providing the required knowledge to perform some jobs competently.

As Associate Professional and Technical occupations have a comparatively low union density rate, this reclassification is likely to have led to a reduction in membership density among professional employees (Table 1.7b and 1.7c).

The other occupations which accounted for a higher proportion of employees who were trade union members than employees overall were Caring, Leisure and Other Service occupations (10.2% compared to 8.8%) and Process, Plant and Machine Operatives (6.0% compared to 5.3%) (Table 3.1).

Female employees had higher union membership proportions in 3 of the 9 occupation groups in 2024: Managers, Directors and Senior Officials, Professional Occupations and Caring, Leisure and Other Service Occupations. (Table 1.7c).

Figure 4: trade union density by gender and occupation, 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 4 shows that the Professional occupations have the highest union membership density at 33.4% and the biggest disparity between genders at 21.7% for males and 44.3% for females. The disparities between union membership densities for males and females are much smaller in the other occupation groups, which also all have overall membership densities below 30%.

Employees in public sector and utility industries are more likely to be in a trade union

The likelihood of belonging to a trade union varies substantially by sector. Employees in industries with higher proportions of public sector workers are more likely to be trade union members, including the Public Administration and Defence and Education industries. However, the rate of union membership in many industries has been in sharp decline since 1995.

Within Public Administration and Defence, the proportion of employees belonging to a trade union has fallen by 16.8 percentage points since 1995 but increased by 0.2 percentage points in the year to 2024.

Industries such as Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation activities, Construction, Transportation and Storage, Accommodation and Food Services, Financial and Insurance Activities, and Other Service Activities saw small rises in union membership density between 2023 and 2024.

‘Other Service Activities’ is the only industry to have experienced growth in union membership density between 1995 and 2024, increasing by 2.1 percentage points over this period.

In line with historical data, Education had the highest proportion of employees who were trade union members in 2024 at 45.0%, with Public Administration and Defence following at 42.3% and Human Health and Social Work at 36.5%. Outside of the public sector dominated industries, the Transportation and Storage Sector had the highest proportion of employees who were trade union members at 34.8% (Table 1.8).

Figure 5: trade union density by industry, 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 5 shows trade union membership density in 2024 by industry group. It shows that the primarily public sector and public service (even though largely private sector) industries have the highest union membership density. Those industries are Education, Public Administration and Defence, Human Health and Social Work, Transport and Storage and the utilities (Electricity, Gas, Water).

Public and private sectors

In the data tables accompanying this publication, tables 2.1a and b show employee numbers split by union membership and sector, table 2.2 shows union membership densities by sector, tables 2.4a and 2.4b cover union presence and collective agreements.

This section is based on analysis of the LFS. Therefore, it differs from the statistics published by the ONS in its Public Sector Employment Release.

Decrease in trade union membership levels was driven by private sector employees

In 2024, the number of public sector employees belonging to a trade union increased by 20,000 on the year to 3.9 million, the second successive small annual increase following 2 years of decline. Private sector trade union membership levels decreased by 57,000, to 2.5 million in 2024, the second lowest level since comparable records began in 1995. The lowest level was 2.4 million in 2022.

Prior to 2020, union membership levels in the private sector had increased from the previous low of 2.5 million in 2010 to around 2.7 million, partly driven by transfers from the public sector into the private sector. In the public sector, employee membership levels had fallen from 2010 to 2017 by close to 560,000 to 3.5 million before recovering to 4 million in 2020.

This contrasted with the previous decade, when there was a steady rise in the public sector membership levels in the 2000s up to 2005, followed by a period of stability until 2010. Public sector membership levels rose by 381,000 between 1995 and 2010. Over the same period, private sector union membership levels declined by 905,000 (Table 2.1a).

 Figure 6: trade union membership levels among employees by sector, 1995 to 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Figure 6 shows trade union membership levels for the public and private sectors (as defined by the LFS) from 1995 to 2024. It shows that union membership levels have been higher in the public sector throughout the period – but fell for much of the 2010s until rising in each of 2018, 2019 and 2020, before falling consecutively both 2021 and 2022, then recovering slightly to 3.9 million in 2024.

Private sector membership levels decreased up until 2010, but has risen slightly from 2010 to 2013 then remaining stable to 2019, before falling in the years to 2022 to a new low, rising slightly in 2023, before falling again in 2024.

Relatively strong trade union membership in the public sector has been upheld by membership among females. Overall, union membership among public sector female employees has risen by around 530,000 since 1995 to 2.6 million in 2024. This is despite a decline in membership numbers in the early to mid-2010s. Conversely, membership levels among male public sector workers saw generally a downward trend over the period from 1995 to 2024, falling by 347,000 to around 1.3 million. This figure is slightly up from the low of slightly under 1.2 million in 2017.

Whilst total membership levels among female private sector employees have remained broadly steady since 1995, membership among male private sector employees has seen a steep decline, falling by 874,000 to 1.4 million in 2024. The decline was predominantly during the 2000s, with a less sharp downwards trend from 2018.

Figure 7: trade union membership levels among employees by sector and gender, 1995 to 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Figure 7 shows employee trade union membership levels by sector and gender for 1995 to 2024. Public sector membership levels are higher than private sector membership levels for women over the whole period, with the gap widening up to 2010 (private sector membership among women has been broadly flat over the whole period at around a million. In the public sector, female membership has risen from around 2.1 million to 2.6 million – dipping slightly in the mid-2010s before recovering).

Among male employees, private sector membership has been higher than public sector membership over the period, though the gap narrowed substantially in the 2000s, from around 790,000 to 200,000.

It has since widened again as private sector membership steadied while public sector membership declined, until recent years when the gap has narrowed towards 200,000 again. This is due to a rise in male public sector membership, along with a fall in the private sector, although both male public and private membership levels fell in 2024.

Trade union density remains higher in the public sector

In 2024, the overall proportion of employees who are members of trade unions continued to be significantly higher in the public sector (49.9%) relative to the private sector (11.7%). Public sector trade union membership density has now been below 50% for 3 consecutive years, whereas prior to this it had been above 50% since comparable records began in 1995.

The proportion of private sector employees in a union decreased from 12.2% in 2023 to 11.7% in 2024, the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

Trade union membership is higher among female employees in the public sector (51.6% of females compared to 46.7% of males), whereas trade union membership is higher among male employees within the private sector (12.4% of males compared to 10.8% of females) (Table 2.2).

Figure 8: trade union density by sector, 1995 to 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 8 shows UK trade union membership densities for the years 1995 to 2024 for the public and private sectors. It shows that densities in both sectors have declined at a similar rate across the period, but public sector union membership density is much higher – at 49.9% in 2024 compared to 11.7% for the private sector.

The trade union wage premium has increased

The trade union wage premium is defined as the percentage difference between the average gross hourly earnings of employees who are union members and non-members.

In 2024, the trade union wage gap increased by 0.7 percentage points to 4.9%. This change is due to a relatively large increase in the wage premium in the public sector of 5.6 percentage points due to faster growth in average gross hourly wages for union members.

In contrast, private sector trade union members experienced slower growth in average gross hourly wages than non-union members, turning the private sector wage premium estimate marginally negative (Table 2.3).

Several factors influence this figure, and the size of the premium is likely to be strongly influenced by other differences in the characteristics of unionised and non-unionised employees. It should also be noted that where pay is determined by collective agreements, these are likely to apply to both unionised and non-unionised employees in the bargaining unit (Table 2.4b).

Personal and job characteristics

In the data tables accompanying this publication, Table 3.1 compares the personal and job characteristics of employees who are union members, not union members, and employees overall. Tables 1.4 and 1.5 compare trade union densities by characteristics.

Older employees comprise a higher proportion of trade union members

Older employees make up a larger proportion of trade union members than younger employees (Table 3.1). Of employees who were trade union members in 2024:

• 4.4% were aged between 16 and 24
• 20.6% were aged between 25 and 34
• 37.3% were aged between 35 to 49
• 37.7% were aged 50 or older

That the likelihood of an employee being a trade union member increases with age accords with the data showing that employees who have longer lengths of service with an employer are more likely to be a member of a trade union. 21.7% of employees who were trade union members in 2024 had between 10 and 20 years of service with their employer, while 21.6% had tenure of 20 years or more.

These are significantly higher than the percentages comprised of those with less than one year and between 1 and 2 years of service at 7.7% and 7.6%, respectively (Table 3.1).

The distribution of trade union membership across age groups has changed since 1995. In 1995, those aged 35 to 49 were the most likely to be trade union members, whereas in 2024, it was those aged 50 or over.

Figure 9: age distribution of trade union members, 1995 and 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 9 compares the age distribution of UK employees who were trade union members in 1995 with those who were members in 2024. It shows that trade union members were older in 2024, with around 37.7% being aged 50 and over, compared to 22.4% in 1995, while 4.4% were aged 16 to 24 in 2024, compared to 7.4% in 1995.

Employees with disabilities are more likely to be a member of a trade union

A higher proportion of employees who have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 were members of a trade union in 2024 (27.2%) than employees who do not have a disability, at 20.8% (Table 1.5).

Employees with a disability under the Equality Act 2010 comprised 21.9% of employees who were trade union members in 2024, while accounting for 17.4% of all employees (Table 3.1).

UK born and Black ethnic group employees are more likely to be union members

UK born employees are significantly more likely to be a member of a trade union than non-UK born employees. 23.1% of UK born employees were trade union members in 2024, compared with 17.4% of non-UK born employees (Table 1.5).

The proportion of employees who were trade union members was highest in the Black or Black British ethnic group (26.0%), followed by those with White ethnicity (22.6%). Trade union membership density was lowest among the Chinese or other ethnic group employees, at just 12.8%, with membership density of those in the Asian or Asian British and Mixed ethnicity groups slightly higher at 16.0%. The national average stood at 22.0%.

A higher proportion of female employees than male employees were trade union members in each of the ethnic groups. The largest disparity between the proportions of male and female employees who are members of trade unions was within the Asian or Asian British ethnic group, with a difference of 8.8 percentage points, closely followed by the Black or Black British ethnic group at 6.5 percentage points. The lowest disparity in trade union membership density between male and female employees was within the Mixed ethnicity group at 1.7 percentage points (Table 1.5). 

Figure 10: trade union density by gender and ethnicity, 2024

Figure 10 shows 2024 trade union membership densities by gender for different ethnic groups. It shows that female employees have higher membership densities in each ethnic group, and that employees with Black or Black British ethnicity have the highest membership density, followed by those with White ethnicity. Those with Chinese or other ethnic group ethnicity have the lowest membership density.

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Over 50% of Black or Black British employees worked in the Human Health and Social Work, Education or Public administration and defence industries in 2024. These industries accounted for close to 75% of union members in this ethnic group.

Within these industries, Black or Black British employees had slightly higher union membership density compared to the average across all employees in Public Administration and Defence and Human Health and Social Work, with union density in Education for Black or Black British employees lower than that for all employees^{[footnote 5]}.

Higher educated employees are more likely to be union members 

Higher educated employees are more likely to be union members, with union density at 26.3% for those with a degree and 27.2% for those with other higher education qualifications. This contrasts with employees will lower levels of qualifications, or none; only 14.8% of employees with ‘other qualifications’ were union members (those with qualifications that were not A-Level or GCSE grades A to C equivalent), while 14.9% of employees with no qualifications were union members. 

The size of the disparity in trade union membership density between those with higher education qualifications and those with lower level or no qualifications differs substantially between men and women. Among female employees, 32.4% with a degree or equivalent and 31.8% with ‘other higher education’ qualifications were union members, compared to between 13.5% (no qualifications) and 14.1% (‘other qualifications’) a gap of 19 percentage points between the highest and lowest densities.

However, among male employees the difference was only 7 percentage points between the 21.8% of those with an ‘other higher education’ qualification and the 15.3% of those with other qualifications who are union members.

Foremen or supervisors are more likely to be trade union members

Employees who are foremen or supervisors are more likely to be members of a trade union relative to those more and less senior than them. 31.2% of foremen or supervisors were trade union members, compared to 21.7% of managers and 20.7% of those who are not managers or supervisors (Table 1.5).

Higher income earners are more likely to be trade union members 

Employees that earn less than £250 per week and employees earning between £250 to £499 per week were less likely to be members of a trade union compared to those with higher incomes (Table 1.5).

The proportions of employees who were trade union members by weekly earnings in 2024 were: 

• 7.7% of those earning less than £250 per week
• 18.5% of those earning between £250 and £499 per week
• 27.1% of those earning between £500 and £999 per week
• 19.9% of those earning £1,000 and above per week

Country and regional trends

In the data tables accompanying this publication, Table 4.1 shows trade union membership density in the UK nations and English regions, while Table 4.2 shows their membership levels, for 1995 to 2024. Table 4.3 and Table 4.4 show data for 20 UK nations and regions for 2024.

Trade union membership levels rose in England and Northern Ireland, but fell in Scotland and Wales.

Trade union membership levels among employees increased slightly in England (by 29,000 to 5.1 million) and Northern Ireland (by 4,000 to 263,000) between 2023 and 2024. Over the same period, membership levels in Scotland decreased by 37,000 to 624,000 and decreased in Wales by 34,000 to 365,000.

Northern Ireland (34.0%), Wales (29.5%) and Scotland (27.0%) had higher proportions of employees in unions than all the England regions. Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland had much higher trade union membership density relative to England (20.6%) as a whole.

Between 1995 and 2024, amongst the nations, Wales has recorded the largest percentage point fall in the proportion of employees who are trade union members at 14.9 percentage points, followed by Scotland at 12.0 percentage points. Northern Ireland has had the lowest decrease of 8.2 percentage points, with membership density in England falling by 10.2 percentage points over the period (Table 4.1).

In England, employees in the northern regions are more likely to be trade union members

Membership levels in England increased in 2024 despite there being increases in employee union membership levels in only 4 of 9 English regions: London, the South East, the North-East and the South West. The largest increase was in London, where employee membership increased by around 85,000 to 718,000, equivalent to a 13.4% increase in membership in the region.

Trade union employee membership numbers decreased in 5 of the 9 regions, the East Midlands, East of England, the North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber (Table 4.2).

In 2024, across England, the more northernly regions had higher proportions of employees with trade union membership compared to Southern regions. The North East (25.6%), North West (25.0%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (23.6%), had higher densities of trade union membership than the other English regions.

The East Midlands (21.6%) and West Midlands (21.1%) were also above the England average of 20.6%. Meanwhile London (17.8%), the South East (18.1%), the South West (20.3%) and the East of England (18.0%) were all below the England average (Table 4.1).

Between 2023 and 2024, 3 English regions experienced an increase in the proportions of employees that were union members, with increases in London (+2.2 percentage points), the North East (+1.8 percentage points) and the South East (+0.2 percentage points). Membership density among employees fell across all other English regions, with the largest declines of 2.8 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points being in Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands respectively.

Figure 11: trade union density by nation and region, 2024

Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics

Figure 11 shows the proportion of employees that are union members by UK Nations and English Regions. It shows that the other nations and northern regions of England have higher union membership densities than the UK as a whole.

London, the East of England and the South East have the lowest union membership densities.

Figure 12: trade union membership as a proportion of employees, by Government Office Nation and Region, UK employees, 2024

Figure 12 shows the proportion of employees who are members of a trade union broken down by 20 geographical regions and nations across the UK in 2024. Northern Ireland had the highest proportions of employees that were trade union members at 34.0%, followed by Merseyside (33.0%), Strathclyde (30.9%) and Wales (29.5%). Inner London had the lowest proportion of workers affiliated to a trade union at just 15.9%, with East of England (18.0%) and the South East (18.1%) the next lowest (Table 4.3).

Figure 13: employees with a trade union presence in their workplace by Government Office Nation and Region, percent, 2024

Figure 13 shows the percentage of employees with a trade union presence in the workplace in the 20 geographical regions. Union presence is a measure of whether there are union members at the workplace.

Merseyside had the highest percentage of employees with a trade union presence of 62.1%, followed by Rest of North East (59.9%) and Wales (59.4%). Inner London had the lowest rate of employees with a trade union presence in the workplace at 40.7%, followed by Outer London and the South East at 41.8% and 44.3%, respectively.

Unsurprisingly, 3 of the regions in the highest 5 for trade union membership are also in the top 5 regions for trade union presence. Similarly, the lowest 5 regions for trade union membership are also the lowest 5 regions for trade union presence.

Figure 14: coverage of employee jobs where pay is set with reference to a collective agreement by Government Office Nation and Region, 2024

Figure 14 gives an overview of the proportion of employee jobs where pay was set with reference to an agreement affecting more than one employee (collective agreement). This is estimated from the ASHE survey.

Strathclyde (57.5%) had the highest proportion of employee jobs whose pay was affected by such a collective agreement, followed by Rest of Scotland at 53.2%. In comparison, Inner London and the Rest of West Midlands had the lowest rates at 31.3% and 35.9%, respectively.

Accompanying tables

The following tables are available in open-source format on the department’s statistics website:

• Table 1.1 – Trade union membership, unions registered, listed or scheduled in Great Britain, 1892 to 2022-23
• Table 1.2a – Trade union membership levels, employees, UK and Great Britain, 1989 to 2024
• Table 1.2b – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees, UK and Great Britain, 1989 to 2024
• Table 1.3a – Trade union membership levels, in employment, UK and Great Britain,1989 to 2024
• Table 1.3b – Trade union membership as a proportion of those in employment, UK and Great Britain, 1989 to 2024
• Table 1.4 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by gender, full/part time and permanent/temporary status, UK, 2024
• Table 1.5 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by personal characteristics, and work and job characteristics, UK, 2024
• Table 1.6 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by age group and gender, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 1.7a – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by major occupation group and gender, UK, 2005 to 2010
• Table 1.7b – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by major occupation group and gender, UK, 2011 to 2020
• Table 1.7c – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by major occupation group and gender, UK, 2021 to 2024
• Table 1.8 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by industry and gender, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 1.9 – Average hourly earnings by union status, UK, 2024
• Table 1.10 – Trade union membership proportions and union presence in the workplace, UK, 2024
• Table 1.11 – Employee jobs where pay is set with reference to an agreement covering more than one employee (collective agreement) by agreement type, UK, 2024
• Table 2.1a – Trade union membership levels by sector and gender, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 2.1b – Trade union non-membership levels by sector and gender, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 2.2 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by sector and gender, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 2.3 – Average hourly earnings by union status and sector, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 2.4a – Trade union presence by sector, UK, 1999 to 2024
• Table 2.4b – Employee jobs where pay is set with reference to an agreement covering more than one employee (collective agreement) by sector, UK, 2005 to 2024
• Table 2.5 – Trade union membership levels by Industry, UK, 1995 to 2024
• Table 3.1 – Characteristics of union members and non-members, UK, 2024
• Table 4.1 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees by nation and region, 1995 to 2024
• Table 4.2 – Trade union membership levels by nation and region, 1995 to 2024
• Table 4.3 – Trade union membership proportions and trade union presence in the workplace by regions, 2024
• Table 4.4 – Employee jobs where pay is determined by reference to an agreement covering more than one employee (collective agreement) by regions, 2024
• A1 to A13 – Individual tables for the nations and regions, covering trade union membership as a proportion of employees by various characteristics, 2024
• A14 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees, by 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification and gender, 1995 to 2024
• A15 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees, by 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification and gender, full/part time and permanent/temporary, 2024
• A16a – Trade union membership as a proportion of Polish national employees in the UK by gender and full/part time status, 2024
• A16b – Trade union membership as a proportion of Polish born employees in the UK by gender and full/part time status, 2024
• A17 – Age distribution of employees who are trade union members, UK, 1995 and 2024
• A18 – Coverage of collective agreements between employers and trade unions by full/part time and permanent/temporary status, UK, 2024
• A19 – Coverage of collective agreements between an employer and trade union by sector, UK, 1996 to 2024
• A20 – Trade union membership as a proportion of employees, unitary authorities and local authorities, Great Britain, 2024 
• A21 – Median hourly pay excluding overtime, all employees and whether pay is determined with reference to a collective agreement, UK, 2024

Concepts and definitions

Concept	Definition
Employee	Employees are those who are in employment and paid a wage by an employer for the work that they do. People with 2 or more jobs are counted only once.
In employment	The number of people with jobs is measured by the LFS and includes people aged 16 or over who did paid work (as an employee or self-employed), those who had a job that they were temporarily away from, and those on government-supported training and employment programmes. For this publication, the numbers in employment exclude those doing unpaid family work. People with 2 or more jobs are counted only once.
Labour Force Survey	The main source for information on the labour market in the United Kingdom. It is a random household survey of approximately 28,000 households (63,000 individuals) conducted every 3 months by the ONS. As well as private households, the survey includes people living in communal establishments (student halls of residence, National Health Service accommodation, etc.). The survey was conducted once every 2 years between 1973 and 1983 and annually from 1983 until 1991. It has been conducted quarterly since 1992, with a change to calendar quarters from seasonal quarters made in 2006. The LFS is a sample survey and consequently estimates are subject to both sampling and non-sampling error. Due to difficulties collecting data for instance through face-to-face interviewing during the pandemic, the LFS has achieved a lower response rate than previously during this period – and has partly mitigated this impact by increasing the initial sample of households.
Trade Union	The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 defines a trade union as an organisation which consists wholly or mainly of workers of one or more descriptions and whose principal purposes include the regulation of relations between workers and employers or employers’ associations.
Trade union member (LFS)	A person in employment who self-defines that they belong to a trade union or staff association when asked in the LFS.
Union density	The rate or proportion of employees or those in employment who are a trade union member. Expressed as a percentage.
Union presence	Whether or not there are trade union or staff association members working at a workplace. In this publication, this statistic is presented as the proportion of employees who have trade union members (which could include themselves) working at their workplace.
Collective agreement (LFS)	Whether the pay and conditions of employees are directly affected by an agreement between their employer and a trade union. This is presented as the proportion of employees affected by such an agreement
Occupation	Defined using the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC). From 2021, the SOC 2020 is used. Prior to that we have used SOC 2010 for data from 2011 to 2020, and SOC 2000 for earlier data.
Industry	Defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). SIC 2007 has been used throughout. However, data prior to 2009 was reallocated using the agreed ONS approach from SIC 1992 codes.

Further information

Future updates to these statistics

The next update of these statistics will be in May 2026.

Past Trade Union Membership bulletins

View versions of the Trade Union Membership bulletin from 2010 onwards.

Earlier bulletins and articles can be accessed via the National Archive.

Related statistics

The Certification Officer’s Annual Reports includes statistics from the annual returns from scheduled and listed trade unions.

Revisions policy

The DBT statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

Uses of these statistics

Trade union membership statistics are used within government to help inform on worker representation within industries and occupations, and to help develop policies on employment relations.

The statistics are also used by non-government organisations such as think tanks, trade unions and employer organisations to analyse union membership and the extent of collective worker representation. 

User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to lm.correspondence@businessandtrade.gov.uk

The DBT statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Statistics designation

In 2024, the ONS re-classified its labour market estimates from the LFS as official statistics in development. This was because reduced achieved sample sizes, particularly in the second half of 2023, have led to an increased volatility in LFS estimates. Given the statistics in this publication are largely drawn from the LFS, they have been re-accredited as official statistics in development.

Previously, the statistics were designated as National Statistics. That designation was confirmed in June 2013. This followed a full assessment against the Code of Practice for Statistics in 2012.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

• added more value by providing breakdowns previously requested as freedom of information requests as annexed tables
• revised the method of estimating trade union presence in the workplace following advice from an academic
• published analysis investigating examining the potential for bias in the trade union membership statistics arising from LFS methodology

Pre-release access to statistics

Ministers and senior officials have not received pre-release access to these statistics. Press Office has received pre-release access. Details of the arrangements for pre-release access can be found in the DBT statement of compliance with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Contact us

Responsible statistician: Ivan Bishop
Email: lm.correspondence@businessandtrade.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 020 7215 2000
Public enquiries: 020 4551 0011

1. Other data sources suggest different changes in employee figures in 2024. HMRC RTI data shows that payrolled employees increased by 59,000 in 2024. Workforce Jobs (WFJ) shows an increase of around 247,000 employee jobs in the year to December 2024. Labour market overview, UK – Office for National Statistics ↩

2. This is calculated by combining the membership figure from the Certification Officer’s Annual Report for 2023 to 2024 of 5,493,720 (which excludes Unite’s membership) and the membership figure from Unite the Union’s recently published partial annual return for 2022, of 1,197.696. ↩

3. Based on DBT analysis of the Labour Force Survey (excluding employees in the armed forces). ↩

4. ASHE gathers data on collective agreements from a 1% sample of UK employees, achieving 173,000 responses for 2024, close to the pre-COVID-19 level. ASHE’s query about whether a worker’s pay is determined by a collective agreement encompasses broader criteria than the Labour Force Survey and pertains to jobs rather than individuals, acknowledging the possibility of multiple jobs per person. Evidence suggests that the ASHE data more accurately reflect collective bargaining coverage in the UK. ↩

5. DBT analysis of the Labour Force Survey. ↩