Australia vs United States: Trade union density
Trade union density over time
- Australia
- United States
How they compare
Australia currently reports 12.2 Percentage of employees against 9.9 Percentage of employees in United States, a difference of 2.3 Percentage of employees.
That makes Australia's figure about 1.2 times United States's.
Across all 58 years both countries report, Australia has been ahead every year.
Australia ranks 25th and United States ranks 27th of 31 countries.
Australia has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Australia | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 48.42 Percentage of employees | 28.59 Percentage of employees | 19.83 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 1970s | 47.9 Percentage of employees | 25.1 Percentage of employees | 22.8 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 1980s | 45.41 Percentage of employees | 18.34 Percentage of employees | 27.08 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 1990s | 34.34 Percentage of employees | 15.02 Percentage of employees | 19.32 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 2000s | 21.82 Percentage of employees | 12.67 Percentage of employees | 9.15 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 2010s | 16.51 Percentage of employees | 11.23 Percentage of employees | 5.29 Percentage of employees | Australia |
| 2020s | 12.47 Percentage of employees | 10.27 Percentage of employees | 2.2 Percentage of employees | Australia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher trade union density, Australia or United States?
- Australia, at 12.2 Percentage of employees against 9.9 Percentage of employees in United States as of 2024.
- What is the difference in trade union density between Australia and United States?
- 2.3 Percentage of employees, with Australia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Australia and United States?
- 58 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do Australia and United States rank globally for trade union density?
- Australia ranks 25th and United States ranks 27th of 31 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Trade union density. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
The database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts (ICTWSS) was developed by Prof. Jelle Visser at the University of Amsterdam. It was first released in May 2007. In its initial form, the ICTWSS database combined data from various sources and projects with a main focus on trade union in EU and OECD countries, collective bargaining and employment relations in Europe, and social pacts. In 2021, the ICTWSS database was rebranded as the OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database to reflect the joint effort by the OECD and AIAS-HSI to ensure the continuation of the database following Prof. Visser’s retirement. The OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database is publicly available at: http://www.oecd.org/employment/ictwss-database.htm