| After decades of growth, union membership in the United States has been declining steadily for the past 20 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total membership peaked at almost 18 million people in 1980. By last year, according to The Charlotte News & Observer, that figure had dropped to less than 16 million, just 13 percent of the country’s workforce. |
| As we’ve forecasted previously in Trends, the prices of higher-end homes, which cost $1 million and up, have softened in recent months. But overall, U.S. housing prices have continued to rise, climbing 14.5 percent in the year ending June 30, 2005. That’s the fastest annual pace in 25 years. |
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