Alaska has the third smallest population of employed workers, at 305,485, in the U.S. Yet, in 2011, the 49th state had the second highest rate of wage and salary union membership workers, at 22.1 percent, in the nation, behind New York, according to CNN.
Here are the Last Frontier's stats as broken down by NBC News:
- Union workers: 67,572
- Change in union membership 2001 to 2011: +0.5 percent (10 largest increase)
- Change in union membership 2010 to 2011: -3.5 percent (16th largest decline)
- Total employed 2011: 305,485 (3rd fewest)
- Public workers unionized: 55.4 percent, ninth-highest in the country
"What makes (Alaska) second overall in membership is the fact that 11 percent of its private workers are unionized, which is the fifth-highest rate in the country," NBC News reports. "The state's oil and natural gas industry is a major part of its economy -- an industry that is highly unionized."
After New York (24.1 percent unionized) and Alaska comes Hawaii in third with 21.5 percent.
Rounding out the top 10:
4. Washington - 19 percent
5. Michigan - 17.5 percent
6. Rhode Island - 17.4 percent
7. California - 17.1 percent
7. Oregon - 17.1 percent
9. Connecticut - 16.8 percent
10. Illinois 16.2 percent