Number of workers on strike spiked 50 percent in 2022, mostly in service sector

More than 120,000 workers went on strike or stopped working in 2022 amid the tightest labor market since 1969, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday.

That’s a 50 percent increase from 2021, during which 80,700 workers stopped working, and more than a four-fold increase from 2020 when the economy was shut down and only 27,000 workers stopped working.

Twenty-six individual work stoppages started last year, up from 17 in 2021 and 10 in 2020. Other than in 2019, which saw 27 new stoppages, that’s the highest number since 2001.

Almost all of the workers who stopped working in 2022 were in service-providing industries, with the highest concentration in the education and healthcare sectors.

“The education and health services sector accounted for the idling of 106,300 workers, the educational services sector for 69,500 workers, and the health care and social assistance sector for 36,800 workers,” the Labor Department said in a statement.

The number of workers who went on strike in 2022 may be higher

The Labor Department only logs strikes and stoppages that involve more than 1,000 workers.

But the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) keeps tabs on smaller strikes and put their measurement of work stoppages in 2022 at 224,000 workers, higher than the Labor Department’s figure.

“I don’t want to exaggerate the extent of labor activity. I think it is relatively increasing, and it’s a very important moment for the labor movement, though it’s important to realize the level of strike activity really falls far behind what we saw in the mid to even mid-to-late 20th century,” Johnnie Kallas, a doctoral candidate at Cornell’s ILR School, said in an interview.

Some of the biggest strikes and stoppages took place at the University of California (UC), where 48,000 workers started striking in November, and at the Twin Cities Hospital Group in Minnesota where 15,000 nurses participated. 

The Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, said in a statement that the UC strike, which took place across its 10-campus system, “has been described as the largest higher education strike in U.S. history.”

Read more: Organizers say Tesla fired dozens of workers for attempting to form union

Other big strikes took place at the Kroger’s King Soopers supermarket in Denver, Colo., and at Sutter Health Hospitals in Northern California.

2022 saw widespread unionization and labor activity, with unions organized at a number of high-profile companies including Amazon, Starbucks and Tesla.

Earlier this month, Tesla was accused of firing workers who attempted to organize at a factory in Buffalo, N.Y.

U.S. employment levels are the highest they’ve been in more than 50 years, with 96.6 percent of the workforce now employed. There are currently about two job openings for every job seeker now in the U.S. economy.

“Part of the story here is labor market conditions, where maybe workers do feel more empowered,” Kallas said. 

High inflation and a rising cost of living have also been a source of worker dissatisfaction. High inflation around the world following the COVID-19 pandemic has led to strikes in many different countries.

“High rates of inflation have made wages stagnant if not in decline, and many workers are frustrated about that. We documented pay as far and away the most frequent of work stoppages in 2022,” Kallas added.