INSTITUTE INDEX: How labor unions curb racial inequality

Decade in which the income gap began to widen dramatically in the U.S., a period that also saw the beginning of a sharp decline in unionization rates: 1970s

Percent drop in the overall U.S. unionization rate over the past three decades: 48

In the black unionization rate: 56

Percent of all U.S. workers who belonged to unions in the early 1980s vs. today: 23.3, 12.3

Percent of black workers who belonged to unions in the early 1980s vs. today: 31.7, 14.2

Percent of black workers in the South who belong to unions today: 8.9

Portion of the black population of the U.S. that lives in the South: more than 1/2

Rank of the South among U.S. regions with the greatest income inequality within communities: 1

Of the 13 Southern states, number where the the top 1 percent captured half or more of all income growth between 2009 and 2012: 10

Of the increase in wage inequality among women from 1973 to 2007, portion accounted for by de-unionization: 1/5

Among men: 1/3

Percent of white workers' median hourly wage earned by black workers in the U.S. last year: 75

Percent lower that the private sector's black-white wage gap would have been in 2007 if de-unionization had not occurred: 13

For every 10-point rise in unionization rates in U.S. companies, percent by which CEO pay is reduced: 2

Year in which the AFL-CIO adopted a resolution to make organizing the South one of its top priorities: 2013

Between 2014 and 2015, number of the 13 Southern states that gained union members: 8

(Click on figure to go to source. Many of the numbers in this index come from "Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality," a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.)