This note describes the construction and provision of an Internet database providing private and public sector union membership, coverage, and density estimates compiled from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Economy-wide estimates are provided beginning in 1973, estimates by state, detailed industry, and detailed occupation begin in 1983, and estimates by metropolitan area begin in 1986. The database is updated annually and can be accessed at http://www.unionstats.com/.We thank Amy Hathaway of Trinity University for help in the construction of the Database web site.1The Current Population Survey (CPS) is the principal data source from which researchers compile and obtain information on union membership and coverage for states, metropolitan areas, industries, and occupations. This note provides information on the Union Membership and Coverage Database, which provides historical and current compilations of CPS estimates of unionization based on data and methods identical to those used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Database is posted on the Internet and will be updated annually. It should prove to be a convenient and valuable resource for industrial relations and other social science researchers.

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Part-time workers receive considerably lower hourly earnings than do fulltime workers. Using Current Population Survey earnings files for September 1995 through December 2002, the author finds that measurable worker and job characteristics, including occupational skill requirements, account for much of the part-time penalty. Longitudinal analysis of the data indicates that much of the remaining gap reflects worker heterogeneity, evidenced by small wage gains and losses among workers switching between part-time and full-time jobs. The lower skills of part-time than full-time workers result primarily from limited work experience and accumulation of human capital. Little evidence can be found of a large wage gap between part-time and full-time women. A part-time wage penalty is found for men, but men account for less than one-third of total part-time employment.