Your privacy is important to us. We have updated our privacy policy to better explain how we use data on this site. Read it. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said so during the Feb. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Perez said, «just came out with their data on union membership. So collective bargaining is a big part of how this middle class grew in America and it continues to be an important part of who we are as Americans. We located the report Perez was talking. In this tableBLS summarizes median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in and by whether they are in a union or not. So Perez is basically right, with one exception. He should have referred to median earnings, rather than average earnings. In several sectors — including «management, professional, and related occupations,» «financial activities,» «professional and technical services,» «sales and related occupations,» «mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extra...