Work stoppages in ’24 fewest since ’21

The number of U.S. work stoppages decreased by 23.8% in 2024, compared to 2023, and the approximate number of workers decreased by 45.5%, according to the fourth annual Labor Action Tracker report.

Researchers said the decline in strike numbers is overwhelmingly due to a drop in the number of one-day strikes, primarily due to fewer strikes by Starbucks Workers United in 2024 as compared to the previous two years.

Last year’s 359 work stoppages—356 strikes and three lockouts—involved approximately 293,500 workers, resulting in 5.32 million strike days. The number of work stoppages in 2024 exceeded 2021 levels, but was lower than ’22 or ’23.

“Since strike activity in the U.S. is still far below levels seen in the 1970s, major strikes by just a couple of unions can have a big impact on the total numbers,” said Eli Friedman, professor of global labor and work at Cornell University.

“In past years, strikes by screen actors and writers, auto workers and graduate-student workers accounted for a significant share of total strikers, and there were fewer of those large-scale events in 2024.”

Key findings in the 2024 report:

• The number of work stoppages decreased by 23.8% in 2024 compared to 2023 and the approximate number of workers also decreased by 45.5%;
• The five largest strikes of 2024 involved approximately 152,000 union members at Boeing, California State University, University of California, University of California Health and the United States Maritime Alliance;
• Better pay, improved health and safety, and increased staffing were workers’ top demands in 2022-24;
• 359 work stoppages (356 strikes and three lockouts) involving approximately 293,500 workers in 2024;
• The number of work stoppages in 2024 continued to exceed 2021 levels but were not as many as in 2022 or 2023;
• As in 2023, accommodation and food services accounted for the largest share (23.6%) of work stoppages by any industry;

The strike report authors are Johnnie Kallas, who launched the Labor Action Tracker in 2021 and is now an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, and Deepa Kylasam Iyer, a Cornell doctoral student in the field of global labor and work.

“While the number of work stoppages and workers involved in stoppages decreased from 2023 to 2024, workers and their organizations continued organizing strikes to make considerable gains in wages and working conditions,” Kallas said. “It remains to be seen what kind of impact the policies implemented by the new presidential administration will have on strike rates in 2025.”

The tracker provides a comprehensive picture of nationwide workplace conflict, and is available to policymakers, practitioners, scholars and the public. It counts all work stoppages, regardless of size.

A note about labor-action data—Due to funding cuts by the Reagan administration in the early-1980s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has only documented work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers that last at least an entire shift.

By only recording large work stoppages, official data sources exclude the vast majority of strike activity, posing issues for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars in determining the extent of workplace conflict across the country.

The Labor Action Tracker is a comprehensive database of strikes across the United States.