Arkansas Labor Union Membership Hits Record Low

Labor union membership in Arkansas fell to a record low in 2025, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among wage and salary workers, 2.8% were union members, down from 3.5% in 2024 and four-tenths of a percentage point below the previous low of 3.2% in 2012.

Arkansas’ 2025 union membership rate tied with South Carolina’s for third lowest in the U.S. North Carolina posted the lowest rate at 2.4%, followed by South Dakota at 2.7%.

Hawaii had the highest union membership rate at 24.8%, followed by New York at 21.3% and Alaska at 18.1%.

The total number of Arkansas union members in 2025 was 36,000, down from 45,000 in 2024. Another 8,000 workers were represented by a union or covered by an employee association or contract, but were not union members themselves.

The state’s union membership rate peaked in 1990 at 10.3%.

Since 1989, when comparable state data became available, union membership rates in Arkansas have been below the U.S. average.

In 2025, the national union membership rate was 10%, up from 9.9% in 2024. About 14.7 million wage and salary workers were union members, while another 1.8 million were represented by unions but were not members.

Public-sector membership was 32.9%, remaining much higher than private-sector membership, which was 5.9%.