In this blog we will examine the changes in trade union membership in the United Kingdom (UK) by major age groups and sex. The major age groups used are: 16-24; 25-54; and 55 and over. The data source for these statistics is the UK Labour Force Survey October-December quarters.

16-24 Age Category
Taking the 16-24 age category we see that for males trade union membership declined by 30.8 per cent from approximately 222,000 to nearly 154, 000. For females the decrease was considerably larger at 48.5 per cent from 28,500 to just under 14,700.

25-54 Age Category
If we examine the 25-54 age category we clearly see that there has been a major decline in male trade union membership. Between 2001 and 2014 male trade union membership in the UK declined by 27.1 per cent. From nearly 2.9m to just under 2.2m.

During the same period the decline in female trade union membership was only 1.5 per cent. Down from nearly 2.8m to just over 2.7m.

55 and Over Age Category
This group is the only group to an increasing level of union membership, although there is a marked difference between the sexes. For male trade union members membership increased by 11.4 per cent from nearly 560,000 to nearly 624,000. For female trade union members over the same period the membership increased by 69.1 per cent from just under 398,000 to nearly 673,000, an increase of nearly 275,000.

Change in Employment
It may be tempting to attribute the decline in male trade union membership to changes in overall employment levels for employees. However, this is not the case, if we look at the change of overall employment of employees between 2001 and 2014 it increased by 7.9 per cent from just over 24.2m to just over 26.1m.

Male employment increased by 6.1 per cent from 12.4m to just under 13.2m.

During the same period female employment increased by 9.8 per cent from just under 11.8m to just over 12.9m.

Summary
Unless the trade unions can make inroads into recruiting from the 16-24 age category they will in the mid-term find it difficult to maintain or even increase membership in the core employment group 25-54 category.

The decline in male trade union membership for the age category 25-54 will be of real concern to the trade unions. This is the core employment group, and failing to maintain the membership in this group can only result in a long-term decline in overall membership.

The only group to increase membership was the 55 and over category, and this increase would be due in the main to members moving from the 25-54 to the 54 and over age category. Also more people are working beyond the age of 65. In the longer term, if the current trends persist, the current increase will not be sustainable as fewer members will transfer from the 25-54 to the 54 and over age category.