More unionisation in services than factories

The broad figure for union density - the proportion of employees in unions or staff associations - stabilised for both men and women last year, according to the Labour Force Survey. Thirty-one per cent of male employees and 28% of women counted themselves as union members - the same as the year before.

The biggest change in 1999 was that union density in the manufacturing and energy sector fell from 31% to 29%, blamed by the TUC on job losses in high-density manufacturing industries. Thankfully this was offset by an increase in density in services, from 30% to 31%, the first such rise since these records began.

These changes meant 1999 was the first year in which density in service industries actually surpassed that in manufacturing. It was also the first time that density among white-collar workers (30%) crept past that of manual workers (29%).