Union membership in construction rose by 31,000—3.1%—to 1.02 million in 2021 from its 2020 annual average, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported. However, digging deeper into the numbers shows membership has nearly regained its pre-pandemic level, even as overall construction employment still trails its 2019 level.
According to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America, the 2020 employment numbers "reflected a steep decline in employment that affected union and non-unionized firms differently," AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson said in a recent Data Digest message. Project postponements or cancellations related to the pandemic were the cause of much of the 2020 loss. Total construction industry employment averaged 8.16 million in 2021, a rise of 328,000 and 4.2% from 2020 but still 195,000, or 2.3%, below the 2019 average of 8.35 million.