The nation's unionization rate continued to fall in 2006, as 12 percent of employed wage and salary workers were union members, compared to 12.5 percent at the end of 2005.

The nation's unions had hoped that the decline in membership would bottom out last year - the numbers for both 2005 and 2004 were flat - but that didn't happen.

The numbers were reported by the U.S. Department of Labor on Jan. 25. In 2006, the total number of persons belonging to a union fell by 326,000 to 15.4 million. The union membership rate has steadily declined from 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available.

Following are a few other highlights from the report:

• Michigan had 916,000 union members (or a 21 percent unionization rate) in 2005. No surprise that that number dropped significantly in 2006 to 879,000 (19.6 percent). Still, Michigan has the sixth highest union penetration percentage in the nation. Hawaii (24.7 percent) and Alaska (22.2 percent) top the list. Just under half (7.5 million) of the 15.4 million union members in the U.S. lived in six states (California, 2.3 million; New York, 2.0 million; Illinois, 0.9 million; Michigan, 0.8 million; New Jersey, 0.8 million; and Pennsylvania, 0.7 million).
• The union membership rate for government workers (36.2 percent) was substantially higher than for private industry workers (7.4 percent).
• Among major private industries, transportation and utilities had the highest union membership rate, at 23.2 percent, followed by construction (13.0 percent). Construction has dropped from 14.7 percent in 2004 and 13.1 percent in 2005.

"The most important thing the numbers show is how critical it is to pass the Employee Free Choice Act," to level the playing field between workers and management, AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff told Press Associates Union News Service.