Private sector workers shun unions

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that trade union membership across Australia has collapsed over the past 34 years, from 45.6% in 1986 to just 14.3% in 2020:

This collapse has been driven by the private sector, where just 9.2% of workers are now members of unions, down from 12.1% in 2014 and a record low.

By contrast, union membership in the public sector has only fallen from 39.6% to 36.8% in the last six years; although the number of union members actually rose from 570,00 to 710,000 over this period.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.