BIS have published a statistical bulletin showing trade union membership in the UK in 2015. The key findings are:

• 6.5 million employees were trade union members in 2015 – 36,000 more than 2014 (a 0.6% increase).
• The proportion of employees who were trade union members fell to 24.7% in 2015, from 25.0% in 2014, the lowest rate of union membership recorded since 1995.
• The proportion of female union members was around 27.7% in 2015, compared with 21.7% for males.
• There were almost 2.7 million union members in the private sector, an increase of 6,000 since 2014; but the proportion of union members fell from 14.2% to 13.9% because of employment growth. 
• In the public sector, union membership levels increased by 29,000 year-on-year to 3.80 million in 2015 and trade union density in the public sector rose from 54.3% to 54.8% in 2015. 

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