Union Membership on the Rise in New Jersey

N.J. adds 22,000 union members in three years, ranks 6th nationally, according to a Labor Education Action Research Network report

New Jersey remains one of the most heavily unionized states in the nation heading into Labor Day 2026. 

A new report by the Labor Education Action Research Network (LEARN) at Rutgers University finds that union membership is holding steady in the Garden State, and even growing in some sectors, despite economic and political changes that have reshaped the landscape nationally.

“The labor movement in New Jersey is still going strong in the face of incredible challenges,” said Assistant Professor Todd Vachon, Director of the Labor Education Action Research Network (LEARN) at Rutgers University. “A tough defensive stance against federal attacks on the public sector, along with vigorous organizing efforts, helped unions not only maintain but even add to their membership during this tumultuous period.”

Vachon and Kayleigh Truman analyzed 35 months of federal workforce data for January 2023 to December 2025, omitting October 2025 when the federal government shutdown prevented data collection. Their report paints a robust picture of post-pandemic union membership trends:

• New Jersey added 22,000 union members during that three-year period, pushing the total to approximately 675,000 members statewide.
• At the same time, the state added an even larger number of non-union jobs, which dropped the unionization rate by 0.36%.
• New Jersey’s three-year average unionization rate is 15.47%, nearly 5.5 percentage points higher than the national average of 10%.
• We have the sixth-highest unionization rate among the 50 states, trailing only Hawaii, New York, Alaska, Washington, and Connecticut, in that order.
• 57.38% of New Jersey’s public sector workers belong to a union, dwarfing the national rate of 32.9%, with strong representation among teachers and healthcare workers.
• 8.91% of New Jersey’s private sector workers belong to a union, higher than the national rate of 5.9%, with numerous members in construction and transportation. 

Protective services, a job category that includes firefighters, police officers, correctional officers, and security guards, saw the biggest increase. The membership rate jumped from 44.4% to 56.9% over three years, making it the most the most unionized occupation in New Jersey.

Educational instruction and library services, including public school teachers, slipped to second place. The membership rate dropped from 56.1% to 51.72% under the weight of funding cuts.

The report also drills down on the demographics of union membership in New Jersey, finding:

• New Jersey’s union members are more racially diverse than the national average.
• Strikingly, 23.92% of Black workers in New Jersey are union members, compared to just 11.8% of Black workers nationally. 
• Gender differences mirror employment trends, with a high concentration of women in education and healthcare.

The researchers also analyzed earnings data for the three-year period covering January 2023 through December 2025, revealing:

• On average, union members earn 15.9% higher wages than non-union workers across all occupations. 
• The “union wage premium” is even higher for some groups of workers who are chronically underpaid in the American workplace.
• Women earn 24.02% more, Hispanic workers earn 29.49% more, and part-time workers earn 51.51% more when they’re in a union. 

“Unions are playing an outsized role in advancing pay equity,” Vachon said. “Union members are consistently earning more than non-union members in their field. The benefits are greatest among the least well off, most vulnerable, and historically marginalized workers in our state.”