Table 1
Union membership and coverage by selected characteristics

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Table 1
Union membership and coverage by selected characteristics
Table summary
 This table displays the results of union membership and coverage by selected characteristics. This information is grouped by 2010, 2011, total employees, and union density (members, coverage) (appearing as column headers), calculated using thousand and percentage as a unit of measure.
  2010 2011
Total employees Union density Total employees Union density
Members Coverage1 Members Coverage1
'000 % '000 %
Both sexes 14,258 29.6 31.6 14,507 29.7 31.7
Men 7,049 28.2 30.4 7,244 28.2 30.3
Women 7,209 30.9 32.8 7,263 31.1 33.0
Sector2
Public 3,509 71.2 74.8 3,600 71.1 74.7
Private 10,749 16.0 17.5 10,907 16.0 17.5
Age
15 to 24 2,281 14.9 16.5 2,329 14.5 16.4
25 to 54 9,920 32.0 34.1 9,963 32.1 34.3
25 to 44 6,475 30.0 32.2 6,453 30.0 32.1
45 to 54 3,445 35.8 37.8 3,510 36.1 38.3
55 and over 2,057 34.4 36.3 2,215 34.3 36.2
Education
Less than Grade 9 277 24.0 25.3 247 23.1 24.9
Some high school 1,295 20.4 22.0 1,244 19.6 21.0
High school graduation 2,858 25.7 27.0 2,817 24.8 26.3
Some postsecondary 1,205 22.6 24.6 1,230 21.7 23.9
Postsecondary certificate or diploma 5,032 33.3 35.4 5,251 33.7 35.8
University degree 3,591 33.6 36.3 3,718 34.0 36.5
Province
Atlantic 954 30.3 31.7 951 31.5 33.2
Newfoundland and Labrador 193 37.9 39.7 200 38.1 39.9
Prince Edward Island 58 30.7 33.0 59 30.2 33.1
Nova Scotia 388 28.4 29.6 386 30.1 31.7
New Brunswick 314 27.8 29.2 305 29.0 30.8
Quebec 3,327 36.1 39.3 3,385 36.3 39.6
Ontario 5,553 26.5 27.9 5,669 26.6 28.2
Prairies 2,587 27.1 29.6 2,672 26.5 28.4
Manitoba 524 35.9 38.1 537 35.1 36.9
Saskatchewan 422 33.8 35.9 427 33.8 35.5
Alberta 1,641 22.6 25.2 1,707 22.0 23.9
British Columbia 1,838 30.4 31.8 1,830 30.4 31.9
Work status
Full-time 11,530 31.1 33.2 11,721 31.1 33.3
Part-time 2,728 23.5 25.0 2,785 23.6 25.1
Industry
Goods-producing 2,962 26.5 28.6 3,062 26.9 28.7
Agriculture 100 2.7 3.2 114 4.5 4.7
Mining, quarrying, oil and gas 277 20.3 23.1 292 19.3 21.2
Utilities 146 61.6 65.5 144 63.8 66.2
Construction 801 30.3 32.0 838 30.3 31.6
Manufacturing 1,638 24.0 26.2 1,675 24.9 26.9
Service-producing 11,296 30.4 32.4 11,445 30.4 32.5
Trade 2,378 13.1 14.4 2,371 12.2 13.8
Transportation and warehousing 645 41.3 42.8 690 41.1 42.5
Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing 909 8.2 9.2 893 8.8 9.8
Professional, scientific and technical 821 4.2 5.3 825 3.9 5.0
Business, building and other support 495 14.3 16.2 512 16.0 18.2
Education 1,207 67.0 70.9 1,209 67.6 71.6
Health care and social assistance 1,778 52.9 55.3 1,831 52.7 54.7
Information, culture and recreation 625 26.9 28.3 647 25.3 27.5
Accommodation and food 978 7.0 7.8 981 7.3 8.1
Other 524 9.8 11.0 519 9.9 11.2
Public administration 935 68.5 73.4 968 66.5 72.0
Occupation
Management 1,019 8.3 10.9 980 8.0 11.0
Business, finance and administrative 2,751 24.7 26.5 2,828 24.6 26.4
Professional 407 16.1 17.9 424 16.7 18.4
Financial and administrative 734 25.3 27.4 733 25.7 27.7
Clerical 1,610 26.6 28.3 1,671 26.1 27.8
Natural and applied sciences 1,098 22.8 24.9 1,097 22.1 24.1
Health 951 60.2 62.4 996 61.0 62.9
Professional 107 38.2 44.7 113 41.0 44.4
Nursing 278 78.5 80.5 290 79.1 81.0
Technical 223 59.8 61.0 253 59.3 60.9
Support staff 342 52.5 54.2 340 53.6 55.1
Social and public service 1,437 55.4 58.7 1,432 55.3 58.7
Legal, social and religious workers 714 37.1 40.0 716 34.6 37.6
Teachers and professors 724 73.5 77.2 716 76.0 79.9
Secondary and elementary 492 85.9 88.0 483 87.1 89.3
Other 232 47.1 54.3 233 53.0 60.4
Art, culture, recreation and sport 341 28.9 30.8 351 29.5 31.3
Sales and service 3,716 21.0 22.5 3,747 20.3 22.0
Wholesale 386 5.5 6.8 397 5.2 5.9
Retail 1,080 13.2 14.3 1,053 10.7 12.0
Food and beverage 527 10.1 10.8 536 9.0 9.9
Protective services 251 57.6 62.4 262 55.8 62.1
Child care and home support 200 45.4 48.4 186 47.2 48.8
Travel and accommodation 1,272 25.6 27.0 1,313 26.3 28.0
Trades, transport and equipment operators 1,968 35.4 37.4 2,058 35.5 37.4
Contractors and supervisors 138 29.0 30.9 141 29.8 32.6
Construction trades 283 35.7 37.2 284 39.0 40.6
Other trades 760 37.7 40.0 803 36.6 38.3
Transportation equipment operators 484 37.0 38.7 520 36.2 38.1
Helpers and labourers 303 29.5 32.2 311 31.1 32.8
Unique to primary industry 241 14.6 15.9 260 14.6 16.0
Unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities 736 31.3 33.2 758 33.4 35.4
Machine operators and assemblers 590 30.7 32.6 609 33.1 35.2
Labourers 146 33.6 35.3 149 34.5 36.4
Workplace size
Under 20 employees 4,806 13.4 14.7 4,782 13.1 14.5
20 to 99 employees 4,707 29.8 32.0 4,819 30.1 32.3
100 to 500 employees 2,949 41.1 43.5 3,024 40.5 42.8
Over 500 employees 1,797 53.7 56.5 1,882 53.1 56.0
Job tenure
1 to 12 months 2,855 16.0 18.0 3,077 15.7 17.6
Over 1 year to 5 years 4,936 24.3 26.1 4,758 24.1 25.9
Over 5 years to 9 years 2,012 31.6 33.6 2,101 32.1 34.0
Over 9 years to 14 years 1,657 36.5 38.2 1,757 38.4 40.2
Over 14 years 2,798 47.4 49.9 2,815 47.1 49.8
Job status
Permanent 12,434 30.0 31.9 12,600 29.9 31.9
Non-permanent 1,824 27.3 29.7 1,907 28.0 30.5
1. Union members and persons who are not union members but covered by collective agreements (for example, some religious group members).
2. Public sector employees are those working for government departments or agencies; Crown corporations; or publicly funded schools, hospitals or other institutions. Private sector employees are all other wage and salary earners.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, January-to-June averages.