Education reform:
What changed this legislative session?
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More Vermont women than men have union representation
Jobs Brief
|Jobs, Workers, Wages, Gender
Nationally, since the 1970s, more men than women have been in labor unions. But in Vermont, women’s union membership has surpassed men’s for more than 20 years.
The number of Vermont women who were represented by unions peaked in 2024 at over 27,000, or nearly one-fifth of all women in the labor force. While that share has since declined, it remains higher than the share of Vermont men and of U.S. men and women represented by unions.
Vermont ranks 13th in the country for overall union representation. Hawaii leads the country, with more than a quarter of its workforce represented by a labor group. Last year, unionized workers across the country earned hourly wages more than 14 percent higher than nonunionized workers in similar jobs.
This month
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a national loss of 23,000 jobs in July and revised the May and June figures downward by over 100,000 jobs. Meanwhile, Vermont’s jobs held steady in July at nearly 311,000—around average for the last year, but below pre-Covid levels.
