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Union membership dips for health care workers

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 7, 2011

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After several years of growth, the number of people working in health care who belong to a union declined in 2010, according to data released Jan. 21 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About 957,000 health care practitioners and technicians, a category that includes physicians and nurses, were members of a union in 2010. This number was at its highest for the past decade in 2009, at 962,000 members. The proportion of this occupational category with union membership dropped from 13.6% in 2009 to 13.3% in 2010.

These numbers also went down for health care support occupations, a category that includes medical assistants and nursing aides. About 317,000 -- 10% of people in these types of jobs -- were members of unions in 2009. This was also a peak for the past decade and went down to 268,000 -- 8.4% -- in 2010.

Union membership in the health care setting generally went up during the past decade, but declined in the work force as a whole. The BLS' union members summary is available online (link).

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/02/07/bibf0207.htm.

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