The total number of trade unions that filed returns in 2019 more than halved to a record low of 2,311 from the previous year, according to the latest annual data released by the Labour Bureau. The earliest data available shows there were 7,242 such trade unions in 1996, while it came close to the present figure in 2013 at 2,534.
The membership of trade unions that submitted returns in 2019 fell to its lowest levels in nine years at 6.2 million, dropping from 12.1 million in 2018. Meanwhile, the average membership per union increased to 2,675 in 2019 from 2,537