I get the term after reading the article, I’ve just never heard it described that way before. Their own figures say union membership rates in the article which seems much clearer to me and has the same number of words as “union density rate.” Density seems to imply something more geographic or spatial, just seems like an odd way to describe it.
Because “union density” is shorter. Just as “GDP” is shorter than “sum of the income of everyone in a country”.
SINBIPDU
(shorter is not better if people don’t understand)
It’s jargon, like “OOP” and “VRAM”. The people who tend to refer to it will understand.
I get the term after reading the article, I’ve just never heard it described that way before. Their own figures say union membership rates in the article which seems much clearer to me and has the same number of words as “union density rate.” Density seems to imply something more geographic or spatial, just seems like an odd way to describe it.
It’s an econ term, it doesn’t have to make sense to non-economists!
For instance you would think the unemployment rate is the percentage of the population without employment, but no.