Tripling union membership in the United States would result in a 14.5% wage increase for the median worker, transferring approximately $1.2 trillion annually to workers and significantly reducing racial wage disparities, according to a report released on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, by the Economic Policy Institute.

Union membership rates, or union density, were over 30% in the 1950s before declining steadily to 10% in 2025. Despite this decline, public approval of labor unions remains strong, with more than 68% of Americans viewing unions favorably in 2025. The report also notes that more than 50 million US workers would join a union if given the opportunity.

Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, wrote in the report's foreword that efforts to restrict workers' ability to organize have allowed the wealthy to accumulate disproportionate income and wealth, devastating the middle class. He highlighted that the richest 0.1% now own more than five times the combined wealth of the entire bottom half of the country.

The report suggests that increasing union density would reverse one-third of the rise in inequality since 1979. Historically, union membership has been associated with wage premiums between 15% and 20%, though these figures may be underestimated due to current low union density.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US, emphasized the economic pressures facing workers nationwide during a press conference on July 15. She said, “I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with workers, no matter where you go – big city, small town – who basically are saying over and over again: ‘My rent keeps going up, my paycheck does not stretch as far as it used to, I walk into the grocery store and I ask myself, when did shit get so expensive?’ It is just a constant.”

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