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Trade Unions

Volume 486: debated on Tuesday 20 January 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many trade union members there are in the UK; and in which 10 industries the proportion of employees who are union members is lowest. (248483)

In 2007, the period for when latest data are available, the number of employees who were trade union members in the United Kingdom was approximately seven million.

In terms of the proportions, 28.0 per cent. of all employees were union members in the United Kingdom. The proportion of trade union members, broken down by the main industry groups and ranked from lowest to highest, is shown in the following table.

Trade union density of UK employees1 by industry, 2007

Industry

Percentage

Hotels and restaurants

4.9

Agriculture, forestry and fishing

7.9

Real estate and business services

10.2

Wholesale, retail and motor trade

11.3

Construction

15.5

Other services

18.6

Manufacturing

21.8

Financial Intermediation

22.3

Mining and quarrying

23.1

Transport, storage and communication

40.1

Health and social work

43.4

Electricity, gas and water supply

45.6

Education

55.3

Public administration and defence

56.8

1 Excludes members of the armed forces.

Source:

Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics