Did union membership, organized labor efforts, and solidarity with labor movements increase in the United States in 2025?
Executive summary
Union membership as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics had not risen into 2025 — the most recent official snapshot showed the union membership rate at 9.9% in 2024 and the number of union members roughly steady at 14.3 million [1] [2]. At the same time, organizing activity, public approval, and visible solidarity actions expanded through 2024–25: petitions and NLRB election activity rose, high-profile campaigns and strikes continued, and public approval of unions remained historically strong — a mixed picture of growing momentum but limited near‑term gains in membership [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. What the membership data actually show: no clear increase in 2025 on official counts
The authoritative BLS annual series released early 2025 reports the union membership rate was 9.9% for 2024, little changed from 2023, and 14.3 million wage and salary workers belonged to unions — numbers that show continuity, not a surge in members as of that release [1] [2]. Multiple reporting outlets treated those figures as a near‑record low and emphasized that private‑sector union density remains especially depressed [4] [7]. No comparable, official nationwide membership total for calendar 2025 is available in the sources provided, so claims about a 2025 numeric increase cannot be substantiated here from government data [1] [2].
2. Organizing activity and worker mobilization did increase — petitions, elections and strikes
Measured activity beneath the membership headline shows stronger organizing momentum: researchers at the Economic Policy Institute reported that since 2021 petitions for NLRB elections more than doubled and that interest in organizing surged, while union elections and high‑profile campaigns continued through 2024 and into 2025 [3]. Labor groups and some outlets likewise documented a sharp rise in union election filings and campaign visibility, and union leaders pointed to more elections and street‑level solidarity as evidence of momentum even where membership totals had not yet moved [4] [8].
3. Public support and solidarity remained high, reinforcing organizing leverage
Public approval of labor unions stayed at historically elevated levels in 2025, with Gallup and related polling showing approval around the high‑60s to low‑70s percent range — a durable reservoir of sympathy that organizers have translated into volunteer time, donations to strike funds, and political backing for pro‑labor measures in some states [6] [5]. Advocacy and legal groups argue that representation — the share of workers covered by a bargaining unit — matters as much as membership, and some analyses noted representation (11.1% in 2024 by one measure) and organizing interest as stronger signals than raw membership counts [3] [9].
4. Geography and sectoral shifts: pockets of growth amid national stagnation
Organizing gains concentrated in particular states and sectors: healthcare and education saw notable campaigns, and state‑level policy changes correlated with higher organizing in places that strengthened collective bargaining protections, while “right‑to‑work” states continued to lag [10] [2] [11]. Several reports highlighted that a few states account for a large share of union members and that local victories (teachers, healthcare, tech and some service sectors) produced momentum even as national density remained low [2] [12].
5. Political headwinds and legal vulnerability temper the outlook
The organizing surge collided with political and legal obstacles in 2025: commentators recorded a less‑friendly federal posture and executive and legislative actions aimed at rolling back or complicating bargaining rights, and analysts warned that employer opposition and labor law constraints still present formidable barriers to converting organizing energy into durable membership growth [13] [14] [15]. That dynamic explains why visible worker solidarity and more election filings coexisted with flat or declining official membership shares.
6. Bottom line: momentum grew, headcount did not — at least not in the official record through 2024
Available government numbers through the BLS release covering 2024 show no national uptick in union membership entering 2025 [1] [2], yet multiple independent analysts, unions, and researchers documented increased organizing activity, elevated public support, and localized membership gains that point to a reinvigorated movement — a reality of rising effort and solidarity but limited immediate impact on aggregate membership rates according to the sources provided [3] [4] [5].