Fresh new data suggests higher support for labor unions than ever before, but participation has fallen in recent years.

A new poll from Gallup (Center bias) says that 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, up from 64% before the pandemic and the highest Gallup has recorded since 1965. Support for unions has increased every year since 2009, according to the data. Americans are supportive of unions, but most aren't part of one. Just 10.3% of the U.S. workforce was enrolled in a labor union in 2021, according to the Labor Department, roughly half of what it was 40 years ago. 

Views from fiscal liberals tend to see unions as a crucial way for employees to protect themselves against big business interests, and many criticize work environments and companies that are hostile toward unionization. Several columns published by left- and center-rated outlets focused on signs of optimism in the labor union movement. Some, such as MSNBC (Left bias), highlighted the push by some Starbucks employees for unionization. 

Conversely, fiscal conservatives are often critical of unions. Some opinions from the right framed low union enrollment as a sign that unions don't have employees' best interests in mind. One writer for Daily Caller (Right bias) focused their Labor Day column on the plight of small businesses amid high inflation and accused the Biden administration of "using the heavy hand of government" to suppress U.S. entrepreneurs.