The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported membership in organized labor unions in Wisconsin decreased last year by 16,000 people, a 1 percent drop from 2010.
Gov. Scott Walker and other state Republicans pushed collective bargaining legislation in 2011, posing changes for the majority of state public union employees and requiring annual union re-certifications.
Unions currently represent 14.1 percent of employed citizens in Wisconsin and have already played a large role in the recall effort against Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and the other four state senators.
This trend illuminates a potential problem for unions as they depend on members to support candidates that support their cause.
The report also showed that older workers were more likely to belong to unions than their younger counterparts.
An August Gallup poll reported 52 percent of Americans currently approve of labor unions, a decrease from the 65 percent approval rate in the mid-1990s.
