Federal - Executive Branch
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from the U.S. Executive Branch, covering all aspects of the Obama administration including cabinet departments, federal agencies, regulatory and independent agencies.
Featured Stories
Pierrette McIntire Named as EEOC's New Chief Information Officer
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (TNSper) -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the appointment of Pierrette McIntire to a key Senior Executive Service (SES) position at the agency. McIntire has been named as the new chief information officer (CIO) of the EEOC.
"The EEOC is fortunate to have Pierrette McIntire in this important role," said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. "Her experience, expertise, and commitment to our mission make her well equipped to guide the continued growth
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (TNSper) -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the appointment of Pierrette McIntire to a key Senior Executive Service (SES) position at the agency. McIntire has been named as the new chief information officer (CIO) of the EEOC.
"The EEOC is fortunate to have Pierrette McIntire in this important role," said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. "Her experience, expertise, and commitment to our mission make her well equipped to guide the continued growthand evolution of the EEOC's technology programs."
McIntire has been with the EEOC for over 34 years. She joined the agency in 1988 as a database / Unix programmer within the EEOC's Office of Information Technology (OIT). Since then, she has held the roles of director of the Charge Data System Division and director of the Technology Planning and Management Division, and later served as the EEOC's chief information security officer for 16 years. Most recently, McIntire has served as the EEOC's deputy chief information officer.
"We have a great team at the EEOC, and strong partnerships both inside and outside the government," said McIntire. "I look forward to working together to further the EEOC's mission through the continuous improvement of technology."
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at http://www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/pierrette-mcintire-named-eeocs-new-chief-information-officer
N.Y. U.S. Attorney Announces $22.8M Settlement of Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Vitamin Importer for Underpaying Customs Duties Owed on Products Imported Into United States
NEW YORK, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, AnnMarie R. Highsmith, Executive Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ("CBP") Office of Trade, and Francis Russo, Director of CBP Field Operations New York, announced today that the United States has filed and settled a civil lawsuit against International Vitamins Corporation ("IVC"), a United States-based company that imports and sells vitamins
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, AnnMarie R. Highsmith, Executive Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ("CBP") Office of Trade, and Francis Russo, Director of CBP Field Operations New York, announced today that the United States has filed and settled a civil lawsuit against International Vitamins Corporation ("IVC"), a United States-based company that imports and sells vitaminsand nutritional supplements from China. The settlement resolves claims that, for years, IVC defrauded the United States by misclassifying more than 30 of its products under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule ("HTS") in order to avoid paying customs duties and by failing to pay back duties owed to the United States even after IVC finally corrected its longstanding misclassifications.
Under the settlement agreement approved by U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, IVC will pay $22,865,055 to the United States. As part of the settlement agreement, IVC also made admissions regarding its conduct. IVC admitted that, between 2015 and 2019, it utilized HTS classifications for 32 products it imported from China (the "Covered Products") that carried duty-free rates, even though those products, if accurately classified, would have been subject to the payment of duties. IVC also admitted that even after it retained a consultant in 2018 who informed IVC that it had been misclassifying the Covered Products, IVC did not implement the correct classifications for over nine months and never remitted duties that it had underpaid to the United States because of its misclassification of the Covered Products.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "IVC engaged in a fraudulent scheme to avoid customs duties owed to the United States by misclassifying many of its products as duty-free when importing them from China. Worse yet, IVC made no effort to right its wrongs even after acknowledging internally that it had underpaid millions of dollars of duties owed. This Office is committed to combatting customs fraud by holding companies accountable when they attempt to avoid paying what they owe when importing goods from abroad."
CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner AnnMarie R. Highsmith said: "This case reflects a pattern of behavior in which this company knowingly misclassified imported merchandise to avoid paying duties. They did so despite clear prior rulings by CBP on the correct classification for this specific type of product. Their failure to adhere to the customs laws, which are designed to protect U.S. revenue and U.S. consumers, will cost the company more than $22.8 million under the terms of a civil settlement with the United States. The dedication of the men and women of the CBP Office of Trade, the Office of Chief Counsel New York, and the United States Attorney's Office to protect a fair and competitive trade environment is vital to facilitating lawful trade."
CBP Director of Field Operations Francis Russo said: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided the critical link to an ongoing investigation into an attempt to circumvent payment of proper duties. This case serves as a great example of collaborative law enforcement efforts to uncover and dismantle enterprises that seek to defraud the United States government for personal gain while causing economic harm to their competitors."
As alleged in the Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court:
From January 1, 2015, through September 13, 2019 (the "Covered Period"), IVC made thousands of entries of the Covered Products (consisting of raw and bulk vitamins and nutritional supplements) into the United States from China while materially misreporting to CBP the duty rates applicable to those products under the HTS. IVC knowingly submitted or caused its customs brokers to submit entry documents to CBP that contained false classifications of the Covered Products in order to avoid paying duties owed and failed to remit underpaid duties even after IVC confirmed that the classifications it had used were incorrect.
IVC utilized inaccurate HTS classifications for the Covered Products despite receiving repeated notices from CBP informing IVC that the classifications it had been using for similar goods were erroneous. After continuing to use the incorrect HTS classifications for more than three years, IVC retained a consultant to analyze the propriety of its classifications. Even after the consultant confirmed that IVC had been misclassifying the Covered Products under the HTS, IVC persisted in using its incorrect classifications for these goods for over nine months. Throughout, IVC provided the incorrect classifications to its customs brokers, knowing that they would rely on those classifications when preparing documents to be submitted to CBP on IVC's behalf.
When IVC finally adopted the correct classifications for the Covered Products, IVC made no effort to pay back the duties that it had long owed to the United States because of its pervasive misclassifications. As a result, IVC underpaid millions of dollars of duties owed to CBP for its imports.
In the settlement agreement, IVC admitted, acknowledged, and accepted responsibility for the following conduct:
* During the Covered Period, IVC's customs brokers used information provided by IVC to prepare and submit customs entry summaries to CBP relating to imports of the Covered Products. IVC knew that its customs brokers would rely on the information it provided when classifying the Covered Products and preparing the entry summaries to be submitted to CBP.
* During the Covered Period, IVC provided its customs brokers with HTS classifications for the Covered Products that applied to medicaments and vitamins and that would incur no duties. The Covered Products should have been classified as food preparations subject to the payment of duties. IVC continued providing its customs brokers with these inaccurate HTS classifications even after CBP issued Notices of Action to IVC in 2016 and 2017 regarding classification errors made by IVC for similar non-Covered Products, namely, incorrectly classifying the similar non-Covered Products as duty-free when the correct classifications were for food preparations subject to duties.
* In the fall of 2018, IVC retained a consultant to review the HTS classifications IVC was using for all of the products IVC was then importing into the United States, including the Covered Products. After analyzing the 134 products, the consultant provided IVC with the correct HTS classifications for each of the Covered Products. The corrected codes carried higher duty rates than the HTS classifications IVC was using at the time. As a result, IVC had underpaid duties on the Covered Products.
* IVC did not implement the corrected codes for the Covered Products that were imported into the United States on entry documentation submitted to CBP until around September 13, 2019. Soon after, an IVC executive explained his view "that as each item is reviewed and corrected," IVC had "a very strong go forward but the clean up is tough." IVC never remitted the duties it had underpaid for the Covered Products, apart from in response to several discrete Notices of Action.
* As a result, IVC, through its customs brokers, misclassified the Covered Products on entry documents filed with CBP and, throughout the Covered Period, routinely underpaid customs duties on the Covered Products.
* * *
In connection with the filing of the lawsuit and settlement, the Government joined a whistleblower lawsuit that had been previously filed under seal pursuant to the False Claims Act.
Mr. Williams thanked CBP for its investigative efforts and ongoing support and assistance with the case.
This case is being handled by the Office's Civil Frauds Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Bannon is in charge of the case.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-228-million-settlement-civil-fraud-lawsuit-against-vitamin
Justice Dept.: 4 Washington State Men Sentenced for Hate Crime and False Statement Charges After Racially-Motivated Assault
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Four men who assaulted a Black man because of the man's actual and perceived race at a bar in Lynnwood, Washington, were sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Jason DeSimas, 45, Jason Stanley, 46, Randy Smith, 42, and Daniel Dorson, 27, previously each pleaded guilty to one count of committing a hate crime, as well as one count of making false statements to investigators about their role in the assault.
DeSimas was sentenced to 48 months; Stanley
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Four men who assaulted a Black man because of the man's actual and perceived race at a bar in Lynnwood, Washington, were sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Jason DeSimas, 45, Jason Stanley, 46, Randy Smith, 42, and Daniel Dorson, 27, previously each pleaded guilty to one count of committing a hate crime, as well as one count of making false statements to investigators about their role in the assault.
DeSimas was sentenced to 48 months; Stanleywas sentenced to 47 months and nine days; Smith was sentenced to 42 months; and Dorson was sentenced to 28 months.
"The defendants subjected a Black man to a brutal and racially-motivated assault," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Racially-motivated hate crimes terrorize entire communities, and they have no place in our society. The Department of Justice will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals who commit these abhorrent crimes."
"The myth of white supremacy is alive and well and can foment dangerous behavior and violence. These particular defendants are deeply steeped in racial hatred, expressed through their Nazi tattoos, white supremacist symbols on their clothing and their use of racist slurs. They came to our area to honor a man who died leading a racist and violent gang, and thought they could act on their beliefs with impunity," said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown for the Western District of Washington. "But the victims and witnesses of their brutal assault have proved they are far stronger than these four. And today our justice system is holding them accountable for the damage they did not only to the people they assaulted, but to the community that recoils when presented with their despicable hatred."
"Imagine being attacked by four men purely because of the color of your skin." said Special Agent in Charge Richard A. Collodi of the FBI Seattle Field Office. "The victim in this case does not have to imagine. Tragically, he lived it. With today's sentences, my hope is the victim feels some sense of justice has been served. However, until all citizens are safe from threats and violence based on their race, ethnicity, gender or beliefs, the FBI's work protecting victims of hate will continue."
In their respective plea agreements, DeSimas, Stanley, Smith and Dorson each admitted that, on Dec. 8, 2018, they entered a bar in Lynnwood, with a large group that included fellow members of Crew 38 and the Hammerskins. Crew 38 is a support group for the Hammerskins, which is a white supremacist organization. The majority of the men in the group were similarly dressed in dark jeans or pants, black boots, black "bomber" jackets and dark-colored t-shirts and had crew-cut hairstyles. Some wore jackets with either Crew 38 patches or other patches aligned with white supremacist beliefs. In addition, many wore shirts with phrases, numbers or logos that expressed white supremacist beliefs and/or memberships, including Crew 38. Many in the group also had visible tattoos, including swastika tattoos, that expressed their views on white race superiority. Members of the group, including defendants Stanley and Smith, repeatedly gave the Nazi salute as they danced.
While in the bar, all four defendants assaulted T.S., a Black man who was serving as the disc jockey at the bar, when T.S. attempted to move defendant Stanley away from his music equipment. All four defendants punched and kicked T.S., even after he fell to the floor, while some in the group called T.S. racial slurs. Two bystanders attempted to intervene to help T.S. and stop the assault. The defendants and other assaulted both bystanders, causing them to sustain injuries. As a result of the defendants' actions, T.S. suffered serious physical injuries, including extrema pain, loss of consciousness, bleeding and swelling in his eye and bruising on his back, chest and legs.
In their plea agreements, the four defendants each admitted that they were members of Crew 38 and/or prospective members of the Hammerskins, and that they had traveled to the Lynnwood area with others to attend events related to "Martyr's Day," an annual gathering honoring a white supremacist who died in a shootout with federal agents on Whidbey Island in the 1980s.
In their plea agreements, defendants DeSimas and Stanley each admitted that they knew that the Hammerskins had used a tactic known as "mutual combat" against members of groups whose beliefs they opposed. Members believed that, using this tactic, they could go to bars frequented by groups whose beliefs they opposed and have one or more members initiate a fight. When the fight began, other members of the group could jump in and assault their perceived antagonists, and later claim a defense of "mutual combat" as a way to avoid accountability.
In addition to the hate crime charge, each defendant pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to federal agents who were investigating the assault. Specifically, Stanley falsely claimed to the agents that he was not even present in the State of Washington during the weekend of the assault. Stanley made this false claim in order to cover up his participation in the assault of T.S.
DeSimas falsely claimed to the agents that neither he nor anyone else called T.S. a racial slur during the assault, while Smith falsely claimed to the agents that he did not remember anyone calling T.S. a racial slur during the assault. Dorson falsely told agents that he had not traveled to Washington State during the weekend of the assault to attend a white supremacist's "Martyr's Day" observance and that he had not owned a jacket associated with a white supremacy hate group prior to the weekend of Dec. 8, 2018. In their respective plea agreements, these defendants each admitted that they made these false statements in order to cover up the motive for the assault, which was the bias that he and others had against T.S.'s race.
The four defendants were charged in an indictment that was unsealed on Dec. 18, 2020.
Smith was charged in the District of Oregon in an unrelated case for illegal possession of a firearm. That charge was resolved in the Western District of Washington.
The FBI investigated the case, with the support of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. The Smith firearms matter was investigated by the FBI Portland Field Office and the Eugene, Oregon, Police Department.
Trial Attorney Christine M. Siscaretti of the Civil Rights Division's Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Cohen for the Western District of Washington are prosecuting the case. The Smith firearms matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William McLaren for the District of Oregon.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-washington-state-men-sentenced-hate-crime-and-false-statement-charges-after-racially
FTC Releases Reports on Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Sales and Marketing Expenditures for 2021
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
The number of cigarettes that the largest cigarette companies in the United States sold to wholesalers and retailers nationwide decreased from 203.7 billion in 2020 to 190.2 billion in 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission's most recent Cigarette Report. The report also states that in 2021, menthol flavored cigarettes comprised 37 percent of the market among major manufacturers, more than double the 16 percent market share they held in 1963.
The amount spent on cigarette advertising
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
The number of cigarettes that the largest cigarette companies in the United States sold to wholesalers and retailers nationwide decreased from 203.7 billion in 2020 to 190.2 billion in 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission's most recent Cigarette Report. The report also states that in 2021, menthol flavored cigarettes comprised 37 percent of the market among major manufacturers, more than double the 16 percent market share they held in 1963.
The amount spent on cigarette advertisingand promotion increased from $7.84 billion in 2020 to $8.06 billion in 2021. Price discounts paid to cigarette retailers ($6.01 billion) and wholesalers ($917 million) were the two largest expenditure categories in 2021. Combined spending on price discounts accounted for 86 percent of industry spending.
According to the Smokeless Tobacco Report (https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/p114508smokelesstobaccoreport2021.pdf), smokeless tobacco sales decreased from 126.8 million pounds in 2020 to 122 million pounds in 2021. The revenue from those sales rose from $4.82 billion in 2020 to $4.96 billion in 2021. Menthol flavored smokeless tobacco products comprised more than half of all sales and fruit flavored smokeless tobacco products comprised 2.7 percent.
Spending on advertising and promotion by the major manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products in the U.S. increased from $567.3 million in 2020 to $575.5 million in 2021. As with cigarettes, price discounts made up the two largest spending categories, with $308.2 million paid to retailers and $81.3 million paid to wholesalers in 2021. Combined spending on price discounts represented 67.7 percent of all industry spending.
Smokeless tobacco manufacturers also reported selling $804.8 million of nicotine lozenges or nicotine pouches in 2021, not containing tobacco, up from $422.7 million in 2020.
The Commission has issued the Cigarette Report periodically since 1967 and the Smokeless Tobacco Report periodically since 1987. The Commission vote to issue the reports was 4-0.
The primary staffer on the reports is Michael Ostheimer in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/01/ftc-releases-reports-cigarette-smokeless-tobacco-sales-marketing-expenditures-2021
D.C. U.S. Attorney: Accountant Ordered to Pay Restitution, Serve Probation for Fraud Scheme Targeting D.C. Property Management Company
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew M. Graves, issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Ted Blair Williams, Jr., 30, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, was ordered to pay more than $46,000 in restitution and was sentenced to five years of probation for falsifying the accounting records of a Washington, D.C. property management company, in order to conceal his fraudulent scheme to steal funds from the company. The sentence was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 -- The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew M. Graves, issued the following news release on Jan. 30, 2023:
Ted Blair Williams, Jr., 30, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, was ordered to pay more than $46,000 in restitution and was sentenced to five years of probation for falsifying the accounting records of a Washington, D.C. property management company, in order to conceal his fraudulent scheme to steal funds from the company. The sentence was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department(MPD).
Williams pleaded guilty in November 2022, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to second degree felony fraud. He was sentenced by the Honorable Sean C. Staples who also ordered 12 months of supervised release.
According to the government's evidence, Williams made approximately 20 fraudulent transfers from the company to his personal bank account between April and November 2019, totaling more than $65,000. Williams, who was employed by the company as an accountant and responsible for reviewing its accounting information, hid the fraudulent transactions in the company's ledger by falsely coding the transactions in the records and concealing any accounting discrepancies from the company. The company had been able to recover approximately $19,000 after discovering the fraud but suffered a net financial loss of more than $46,000 because of the scheme.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department's Financial and Cyber Crimes Unit. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian P. Kelly and Benjamin D. Bleiberg, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/accountant-ordered-pay-restitution-and-serve-probation-fraud-scheme-targeting-dc-property
CPSC Proposes Strong New Safety Standard for Button Cell and Coin Batteries
BETHESDA, Maryland, Jan. 31 (TNStalk) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the following statement on Jan. 30, 2023, by Commissioner Richard Trumka:
* * *
Existing Children's Toy Standard Would Require Upgrade to be as Protective
* * *
CPSC proposed a strong new safety standard to protect kids from the serious ingestion hazard posed by button cell and coin batteries. The proposed rule would require batteries in common household items (such as remotes, light-up apparel, and musical greeting cards) to be inaccessible to children ages six and younger. Combined with the stronger battery
... Show Full Article
BETHESDA, Maryland, Jan. 31 (TNStalk) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the following statement on Jan. 30, 2023, by Commissioner Richard Trumka:
* * *
Existing Children's Toy Standard Would Require Upgrade to be as Protective
* * *
CPSC proposed a strong new safety standard to protect kids from the serious ingestion hazard posed by button cell and coin batteries. The proposed rule would require batteries in common household items (such as remotes, light-up apparel, and musical greeting cards) to be inaccessible to children ages six and younger. Combined with the stronger batterypackaging requirements that are set to go into effect, children will be far more protected from life-threatening battery ingestion.
Today's proposed rule covers small batteries in everything except toys, pursuant to Congressional directive. There is already a standard to make small batteries in toys inaccessible to kids. However, CPSC staff evaluated the toy standard, and found it to be insufficiently protective. That evaluation is supported by the numbers, as toys were responsible for an estimated 37% of battery ingestion incidents where the battery came from a product./1
The toy industry can, and should, adopt a more protective standard for children's toys. On January 26, Commissioner Mary Boyle sent a letter to the group that developed the voluntary standard for toys and urged it to voluntarily upgrade its standard, to stop more children from dying. We expect swift action on Commissioner Boyle's request. If not, we will have to consider whether additional rulemaking specific to children's toys is necessary.
Footnote:
(1)Consumer Product Safety Commission, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Safety Standard and Notification Requirements for Button Cell or Coin Batteries and Consumer Products Containing Such Batteries, OS-116 (available at: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/NoticeofProposedRulemakingSafetyStandardandNotificationRequirementsforButtonCellorCoinBatteriesandConsumerProductsContainingSuchBatteries.pdf?VersionId=kDinNeydktkt3T8RRtzN4u1GTXPRjpEl) (Jan. 11, 2023).
* * *
Original text here: https://www.cpsc.gov/About-CPSC/Commissioner/Richard-Trumka/Statement/CPSC-Proposes-Strong-New-Safety-Standard-for-Button-Cell-and-Coin-Batteries-Existing-Childrens-Toy-Standard-Would-Require-Upgrade-to-be-as-Protective
BLS - Southwest Region Issues Report Entitled "Union Members in Texas - 2022"
DALLAS, Texas, Jan. 31 (TNSrep) -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Southwest Regional Information Office issued the following report on Jan. 30, 2023, entitled "Union Members in Texas - 2022":
In 2022, union members accounted for 4.1 percent of wage and salary workers in Texas, compared with 3.8 percent in 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the union membership rate for the state was at its peak in 1993, when it averaged 7.5 percent, and at its low point in 2021 at 3.8 percent.
... Show Full Article
DALLAS, Texas, Jan. 31 (TNSrep) -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Southwest Regional Information Office issued the following report on Jan. 30, 2023, entitled "Union Members in Texas - 2022":
In 2022, union members accounted for 4.1 percent of wage and salary workers in Texas, compared with 3.8 percent in 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the union membership rate for the state was at its peak in 1993, when it averaged 7.5 percent, and at its low point in 2021 at 3.8 percent.(See chart 1 and table A.) Nationwide, union members accounted for 10.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 2022. The rate was down from 10.3 percent in 2021, primarily the result of a disproportionately large increase in the number of total wage and salary employment compared with the increase in the number of union members. The 2022 unionization rate (10.1 percent) is the lowest on record. Since 1989, when state data became available, union membership rates in Texas have been below the U.S. average.
Texas had 518,000 union members in 2022. In addition to these members, another 125,000 wage and salary workers in Texas were represented by a union on their main job or covered by an employee association or contract while not union members themselves.
Nationwide, 14.3 million wage and salary workers were union members in 2022 and 1.7 million wage and salary workers were not affiliated with a union but had jobs covered by a union contract. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions (14.3 million) was up by 273,000 from 2021.
In 2022, 30 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 10.1 percent, while 19 states had rates above it and 1 state (New Hampshire) had the same rate. (See table 1.) Eleven states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2022. South Carolina had the lowest rate (1.7 percent), followed by North Carolina (2.8 percent) and South Dakota (3.1 percent). Two states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2022: Hawaii (21.9 percent) and New York (20.7 percent). (See chart 2.)
* * *
Technical Note
The estimates in this release are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides basic information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. The survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau from a scientifically selected national sample of about 60,000 eligible households. The union membership data are tabulated from one-quarter of the CPS monthly sample and are limited to wage and salary workers. All self-employed workers are excluded. Beginning in January of each year, data reflect revised population controls used in the CPS. Additional information about population controls is available on the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.
Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating standard errors is available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.
* * *
Definitions
The principal definitions used in this release are described briefly below.
Union members. Data refer to members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
Union membership rate. Data refer to the proportion of total wage and salary workers who are union members.
Represented by unions. Data refer to both union members and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.
Wage and salary workers. Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors. Union membership and earnings data exclude all self-employed workers, both those with incorporated businesses as well as those with unincorporated businesses.
Chart 1: Members of unions as a percent of employed in the United States and Texas, 2012-22
Chart 2: Union membership rates by state, 2022 annual averages
Table A: Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers in Texas, annual averages, 2012-2022 (numbers in thousands)
Table 1: Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by state, 2021-2022 annual averages (numbers in thousands)
* * *
Original text, plus charts and tables here: https://www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/news-release/2023/unionmembership_texas_20230130.htm
