Unions are popular across ages and demographic groups in America, but Gen Z men stand out for their high levels of support. According to Center for American Progress analysis of polling data from 2024, Gen Z men have the highest approval for unions among any generation or gender group—higher support for unions than older generations of men and women had at their age. The same was true in 2020, meaning high support for unions among young men has remained stable even as millions of young men have entered the labor force.
The reason is likely very simple: Young men are concerned about being able to achieve financial independence from their families and earn enough money to start families of their own. Unions give workers—especially workers without college degrees—a substantial boost to wages, allowing them to build wealth and reach important life milestones.
Young men are struggling to achieve financial independence. A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that 36 percent of 25-year-old men have not achieved financial independence yet, a larger proportion than in 1980. Fewer Gen Z men are participating in the labor force compared with older generations at their age, and concern is growing that young men are falling behind in the job market.
The result is high anxiety among young men about whether they will be able to afford important life goals, including buying a home and especially having children. A 2025 study of men younger than 30 found that 46 percent of young men feel financially unstable. Far fewer young men today have a home other than their parents’ compared with young men in 1980. Though nearly half of young men said they think “providing for your family” best describes what it means to be a man, 43 percent said they feel they will not be able to afford children in the near future or are not sure.
Unions offer substantial economic gains for all workers, but the boost for young men is especially large. In 2022 the union wage premium, or the amount more that a worker could expect to earn if they were a union member, other things being equal, was 11.3 percent for workers between the ages of 18 and 34. For men younger than 34, union membership increased wages by 17.6 percent. Young men in unions were also far more likely than those not in unions to have access to health insurance and retirement plans through their employers.
As a result, unions enable workers—especially those without college degrees—to build wealth. A CAP analysis found that union membership doubles household wealth for workers with a high school diploma and no college experience and triples wealth for those who did not complete high school. Another study from 2022 found that union membership throughout a worker’s career is associated with an average increase in lifetime earnings of $1.3 million, which is even larger than the increase in lifetime earnings workers expect from completing college.
Due to the gains from union membership, young men in unions are far more financially stable than young men who are not in unions. A 2025 survey found that 64 percent of men younger than 30 who are in a union household describe themselves as “financially stable” compared with only 46 percent of men who are not in a union household (see Figure 1). Young men in union households are also more confident that they will be able to support their families: 69 percent of young men in union households said they believe they can afford to raise children in the near future compared with only 56 percent of young men in nonunion households.
While all groups by age and gender have a positive overall assessment of unions, Gen Z men are the most pro-union of any age and gender group. Figure 2 shows the average approval rating that eligible voters gave unions in 2024 on a scale from 1 to 100, with a rating higher than 50 representing a positive approval rating. Average approval was highest among Gen Z men, with an average rating of 65; every other group had an average rating of at least 57. The result was similar in 2020 even though the cohort of Gen Z men older than 18 has grown substantially between 2020 and 2024, suggesting durable support for unions among young men.
These findings are based on analysis of the American National Election Studies, a long-running academic survey, and other research also finds high levels of support for unions among young men. For example, a survey of U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Research Center in August 2025 found that 67 percent of men aged 18 to 29 said that the “large reduction in the percentage of workers who are represented by unions” has been either “somewhat bad” or “very bad” for the country, with a margin of error among this group of 9.5 percentage points. Similarly, American Compass analysis finds young Republicans much more supportive of unions than older Republicans.
Not only are Gen Z men today more supportive of unions than any other age or generation group, they also support unions more than men or women in older generations did at their age. Figure 3 shows how older generations of men and women rated unions when they were ages 18 to 27, the same ages members of Gen Z were in 2024. Even at the younger ages, no older generation of men or women supported unions as highly as Gen Z men do today.
Young men face economic headwinds and feel a great deal of anxiety over whether they can support themselves and start families, but they also express high levels of support for unions. Given that unions give workers a say in their workplaces and empower workers to come together to raise wages, it’s no wonder Gen Z men today are the most pro-union generation in history.