Americans in “Right to Work” States Celebrate Labor Day with Lower Unemployment Rates

Labor Day officially became a U.S. federal holiday in 1894, largely as a way from Congress to appease striking railway workers.

Ironically, that same movement is now putting certain U.S. states at a severe competitive disadvantage during the Obama Recession.

We’ve all heard of “Right to Work” laws which allow employees to decide for themselves whether they join and/or pay into a union at their respective places of employment; exceptions include those in certain defined categories, such as those in highly regulated industries (e.g. rail, airline and federal employees). A seemingly uncontroversial proposition, right? Wrong! The single largest interest group in American politics isn’t the Koch Brothers or Big Oil… it’s labor unions, and they give overwhelmingly to Democrats.

The results are demonstrable and predictable, Save Jerseyans. In April 2012, the United States’s 23 Right to Work states had an average unemployment rate of 6.9% while non-Right to Work states and the District Columbia had a combined average unemployment rate of 7.5%. That’s an average 0.6% lower unemployment rate for states that make union membership/contribution optional. The gap grew to a full point in July 2012: Right to Work states had an average 7.2% unemployment rate compared to 8.2% for non-Right to Work states…

Right to Work? U.S. State Unemployment Rate % (July 2012)
YES (#1) NORTH DAKOTA 3.0
YES NEBRASKA 4.0
YES SOUTH DAKOTA 4.4
YES OKLAHOMA 4.9
NO VERMONT 5.0
YES IOWA 5.3
NO NEW HAMPSHIRE 5.4
YES WYOMING 5.6
NO MINNESOTA 5.8
YES VIRGINIA 5.9
YES UTAH 6.0
NO MASSACH– USETTS 6.1
YES KANSAS 6.3
NO HAWAII 6.4
NO (#15) MONTANA 6.4
NO NEW MEXICO 6.6
NO DELAWARE 6.8
NO MARYLAND 7.0
NO MISSOURI 7.2
NO OHIO 7.2
YES TEXAS 7.2
YES ARKANSAS 7.3
NO WISCONSIN 7.3
NO WEST VIRGINIA 7.4
YES (#25) IDAHO 7.5
YES LOUISIANA 7.6
NO MAINE 7.6
NO ALASKA 7.7
NO PENNSYLVANIA 7.9
YES INDIANA 8.2
YES ALABAMA 8.3
YES ARIZONA 8.3
NO COLORADO 8.3
NO KENTUCKY 8.3
YES TENNESSEE 8.4
NO CONNECTICUT 8.5
NO WASHINGTON 8.5
NO OREGON 8.7
YES FLORIDA 8.8
NO (#40) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 8.9
NO ILLINOIS 8.9
NO MICHIGAN 9.0
YES MISSISSIPPI 9.1
NO NEW YORK 9.1
YES GEORGIA 9.3
YES NORTH CAROLINA 9.6
YES SOUTH CAROLINA 9.6
NO NEW JERSEY 9.8
NO CALIFORNIA 10.7
NO RHODE ISLAND 10.8
YES NEVADA 12.0
Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8404 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

3 Comments

  1. …and lower wages. Because people who work full-time for a company are way out of line to expect that their wages and benefits would enable them to raise their families.

    How dare union workers be so presumptuous as to think they have rights? Don't they know that rights are only for the Ownership Class—and that the Ownership Class has an inalienable RIGHT to parasitically leech off of the value of workers' labor rather than actually producing anything on their own?

  2. How dare they cut unemployment so more people are paying taxes, contributing to society and reduceing the deficit(if democrats would stop spending our money like its unlimited). You mean your giving the freedom of choice instead of strong arming us into paying union dues. If unions are so great, why wouldnt people choose to be in them instead of fighting for their right to choose. Unions were good ORIGINALLY for improving safe conditions. Now they eat up money and hurt business. Freedom of choice damn it. Dont you people want to live in a country thats free. Oh, no, you dont. You want communist socialist gov't. to redistibute everyones hard earned money, so that unable and UNWILLING people can live work free.

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