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Union membership brings many benefits to working people. One of the major benefits includes weekly earnings. The data below show that union workers, on average, made $161 or 27% more per week than nonunion workers in 2003. Furthermore, when breaking it down to both industries and occupational categories, the union difference becomes even clearer.

WEEKLY EARNINGS ADVANTAGE FOR UNION MEMBERS, 2003
Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers' Median Weekly Earnings

	Union	Non Union	Union Weekly Advantage	% Difference
All Workers 16 and Over	$760	$599	$161	27%
Race & Gender White, 16 years & over	$779	$612	$167	27%
Men	$827	$688	$139	20%
Women	$711	$539	$172	32%
Black, 16 years & over	$665	$491	$174	35%
Men	$693	$518	$175	34%
Women	$633	$467	$166	36%
Hispanic or Latino, 16 years & over	$632	$419	$213	51%
Men	$663	$437	$226	52%
Women	$586	$394	$192	49%
Occupational Breakdown
Management, professional & related occupations	$896	$886	$10	1%
Professional & related occupations	$885	$833	$52	6%
Services occupations	$606	$382	$224	59%
Office & administrative support occupations	$639	$530	$109	21%
Natural resources, construction & maintenance occupations	$851	$558	$293	53%
Production, transportation & material moving occupations	$688	$493	$195	$40%
Industry Breakdown
Construction	$884	$580	$304	52%
Durable Goods Manufacturing	$714	$655	$59	9%
Nondurable Goods Manufacturing	$635	$590	$45	8%
Transportation & Warehousing	$782	$620	$162	26%
Government	$809	$821	($12)	-1%

Note: In addition to the earnings benefits gained from being unionized, some of the union/nonunion differences may be due to factors such as employee skill level, region of the country, and size of the employer.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Union Members in 2003," January 2004.

1: Group bargaining, have representation, and have a contract defining each sides' expectations and obligations.