But despite this downward trend, the BLS reports that Hawaii still has the second-highest percentage of union membership in the nation behind New York.
Hawaii has a long history of strong union representation.
In 2015, nearly one in five workers in Hawaii — 20.4 percent — was part of a union. That’s slightly less than in 2014, when 21.8 percent of the workforce was part of an organized labor group.
Nationwide union membership in 2015 was just over 11 percent. That’s roughly the same as it was in 2014.
Several Southern states, in particular North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia, had some of the lowest rates of union membership, well below the national average.
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Nick Grube is a reporter for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at nick@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at @nickgrube. You can also reach him by phone at 808-377-0246.