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Organized labor is a challenged concept nationwide, but California has managed to create roughly six out of every 10 of new union jobs in the U.S. since the Great Recession ended.

But that’s not a huge success: The state’s outsized share of unionized job growth comes from a rather modest rebound in U.S. union rolls that represents a tiny slice of all jobs created nationwide.

My trusty spreadsheet, filled with recently released federal union-job statistics, shows the Great Recession cut statewide union membership by 309,000 in 2008-2010. In the ensuing recovery, union ranks grew by just 60,000 through 2017 — only 2.8 percent of all new California workers since 2010.

That sluggish California recovery for unions looks brisk vs. the rest of the nation. The state accounted for 59 percent of the nationwide increase of union members since 2010. Unions outside of California lost 1.1 million members in 2008-10 and have recovered just 42,000 members in the next seven years. That’s only 0.4 percent of all hires after the recession.

Look, despite the eye-catching share of post-recession sign-ups, these are lean times for organized labor in most of California. In 2017, statewide union membership took its first dip in four years — and the largest drop since the recession ended — as organized labor’s share of the statewide workforce hit a historic low.

Unions statewide had 2.49 million members last year, down 60,000 in a year or 2.4 percent. It was the first drop since 2013, the largest decline since 2009 and slashed the post-recession gain in half.

Unionized workers and their collective-bargain clout stirs many emotions in California.

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Critics claim unions are an outdated concept in a fast-paced business world, wrongly prioritizing seniority over skills and bullying employers to use union workers. In California specifically, government-worker unions are criticized for an unwillingness to help taxpayers pare costs of their memberships’ retirement packages.

Union supporters counter that organized labor is a rare tool that can give workers a voice in various workplace practices. And union leaders often note that stagnation in wages nationwide runs parallel to declining union representation across the nation.

Unionized workers typically do get better pay, for many reasons, though there’s evidence that gap is narrowing. Ponder the tracking of U.S. median weekly wages by union status. Last year union workers got $1,041 vs. $829 for non-union jobs. But that 26 percent pay gap was 30 percent a decade ago and 34 percent in 1997.

In California, the 2017 slide in union membership cut organized labor’s share of all hourly and salary workers across the state to 15.5 percent. Yes, that’s still eighth-highest in the nation. But California ranked No. 5 in 2014 and 2010.

Union participation across the state is down from 15.9 percent in 2016 and 7.5 percent in 2010, as the Great Recession ended. This is California’s lowest level of unionization found in a database at UnionJobs.com.

Since 1983, when 22 percent of workers in California were unionized, organized labor has captured a small slice of new workers statewide.

UnionJobs.com stats show California union jobs are up 17 percent in the past 34 years — growth that’s one-quarter the expansion rate of all jobs statewide. Union membership in private industry is down by one-fifth since 1983 — including losing 3-in-4 factory workers — to 1.12 million last year. Meanwhile, public sector membership in California nearly doubled to 1.37 million.

One bright note: 2017 was the best post-recession year for unionization nationwide. U.S. membership grew by 262,000 in the year, or 1.8 percent, to 14.82 million. It was a reversal from a 240,000-member decline for 2016 and the biggest one-year gain since 2008.

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Yes, U.S. unions saw their share of all wage and salary workers rise to 10.75 percent from 10.69 for 2016 — first increase in unionization nationwide since 2008. But do not forget that in 1983, 20 percent of U.S. workers were unionized.

In the past 34 years, traditionally heavily unionized industries — transportation, manufacturing and construction — saw membership drop by half. Those sectors saw unionization levels fall to 14 percent last year from 31 percent in 1983.

These stats suggest the future for unions is unclear, especially outside government circles. Nationally, union members were 6.5 percent of private-sector workers vs. 16.5 percent in 1983. In California, 8.3 percent of non-government workers in 2017 were union members vs. 17.7 percent 34 years ago.

Any union revival faces a nation where organized labor is as politically polarizing as any domestic topic. Look at the 2016 presidential vote: “red” states — where Donald Trump won — had 7.2 percent of the workforce in unionized jobs last year while “blue” states where Trump lost had 15.3 percent.