Young people get 'union curious' as wages stagnate

Young people are getting ‘union curious’ as wages stagnate

What you probably already know: A new report has found that support for labor unions among young people has increased significantly in recent years, revealing a generational divide as union membership continues to drop across the U.S. The report, by researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, found that a large and growing population of young people describe themselves as “union curious” and are more open than older generations to unionization efforts within their workplaces.

Why? The researchers found that this trend has really started to take off, and the difference between the attitudes of the younger and older generations have expanded significantly in recent years. Many of these younger workers expressed “ambivalence” about unions, which suggests that organizers would still need to do some significant work to shift those people from ambivalent to active. Meanwhile, wage growth has continued to slow, recently hitting its lowest rate since 2021.

What it means: The report points to the younger workers who were behind the recent union organizing efforts at Amazon and Starbucks, suggesting that younger people’s attitudes about social movements might drive them to support unionization efforts, especially when those efforts promise rises in wages, which have stagnated for many younger people.

What happens now? Unionization rates in the U.S. have plummeted in recent years, down from more than 20% of workers in 1983 to only 10% in 2023. Many states have also instituted anti-union laws that have resulted in significant decreases in unionization rates. For instance, South Carolina has a unionization rate of 2.3%. Unionized workers typically make 10-20% more than nonunion employees in the same sector, according to the U.S. Treasury. As younger workers feel the pressure from increased costs of housing and food, compared with slower wage growth, union organizers could gain more traction.

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