Temporary and contract staff make up 17% of trades union members, according to a National Statistics report by the Department for Trade and Industry.

Male temporary staff made up 13% of union membership, compared to 20% for females.

Temporary staff in the private sector made up 8% of union members, and 33% in public sector.

Contractors made up 39% of members holding professional technical occupations, 22% of administration and secretarial members, 20% of managerial members, 15% of process and plant operatives and 18% of personal service occupations.

The report found that the rate of union membership for employees in the UK fell by 0.6 percentage points to 28.4% in 2006, down from 29% in 2005. This was the largest annual percentage point decline since 1998.

It found that Northern Ireland had the highest union density (40%), compared with Wales (36%), Scotland (35%) and England (27%).
Private sector union density fell by 0.6 percentage points, from 17.2 per cent in 2005, while public sector union density rose by 0.2 percentage points in 2006.