Workers in the least unionized jobs under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) experienced the strongest wage growth over the last decade, according a new study released by National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) and conducted by Elevated Insights Group.
"These findings underscore that over the past decade workers have not realized gains from aggressive union leader tactics,” says Eric Hoplin, CEO of NAW. “In fact, the opposite trend is clear: the least unionized workers have seen greater wage growth.”
Key takeaways:
· The study compared wage growth of the manufacturing and transportation industries governed by the NLRA, the Railway Labor Act (RLA), and the U.S. Postal Service.
· From 2015-2024, wages in most unionized NLRA jobs grew by 26%.
- In contrast, the least unionized NLRA job wages grew by 36%, the fastest growth of any group studied.
- Over the last decade, union bosses have increasingly relied on strike authorizations and work stoppages as bargaining tools. However, the report shows these tactics have not produced outsized wage gains.
- Over the past decade, more than one-third of large-scale layoffs occurred in the transportation industry and 87% of the jobs lost were at unionized companies.
