Less white and less male: Labor movement finds new support
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A new survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press undermines the popular image of unionists as burly, white, middle-aged men. In fact, Pew found that labor unions had the highest approval ratings among women, people of color, and young people between the ages of 18 and 29. Whites and retirees held a majority unfavorable opinion of organized labor, while approval among men was just one percentage higher than disapproval.
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African-Americans are now disproportionately unionized, she told MSNBC. It is expected that theres going to be broad support among African-Americans, just as theres much broader support among union households. A 2012 white paper [PDF] from University of California Berkeleys Center for Labor Research and Education found that 13.1% of all working African-Americans were union members, compared to 11% of all non-black workers.
Women dont make up a majority of the unionized workforce, but theyve been narrowing the gap for years. They make up about 45% of the unionized workforce according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statisticsand theyre gaining.
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The biggest surprise in the numbers, said Lewis, is the broad support for unionization among young people. Those between the ages of 18 and 29 had a 61% favorable impression of labor unions, higher than within any other demographic subgroup besides union households and registered Democrats.
Millennial support for unions reflects the precarity so many young people are facing and the influence of the Occupy era, said Lewis.
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http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/03/less-white-and-less-male-labor-movement-finds-new-support/