German union membership stable

For the third year running, unions in the German DGB, the EU’s largest union confederation have held their membership broadly stable at 6.1 million members.

Membership declined from a peak of 11.8 million in 1991 shortly after reunification to 6.2 million in 2010. However, since then, the position has stabilised. Latest figures for 2013 show membership at 6,143,000 compared with 6,151,000 in 2012 and 6,156,000 in 2011.

But the position is less positive where union density — the proportion of employees who are union members — is concerned. There are no official figures for union density. However, while DGB union membership was broadly stable, the number of employees increased by 3.2% between 2010 and 2013 to 37.7 million, meaning that union density fell.