{"id":96169,"date":"2025-07-27T07:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T07:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96169\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T07:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T07:39:25","slug":"right-to-work-laws-the-economic-evidence-2018-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96169\/","title":{"rendered":"Right-to-Work Laws: The Economic Evidence (2018 Update)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-component=\"block:paragraph\" class=\"f-body-1\">\n    In the years since the 1947 passage of the Taft-Hartley Act that permitted states to pass right-to-work laws, numerous studies have examined their economic impact. In 2015, NERA Economic Consulting published a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nera.com\/content\/dam\/nera\/publications\/2015\/PUB_Right_to_Work_Laws_0615.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> that sought to distill that large body of research and present data about economic performance in both right-to-work and non-right-to-work states.\n<\/p>\n<p data-component=\"block:paragraph\" class=\"f-body-1\">\n    In its original report, NERA examined the economic effects of right-to-work (RTW) laws by studying the direct and indirect impact of those laws on economic growth, employment, investment, and innovation. Not surprisingly, the report concluded that despite organized labor\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/fox6now.com\/2015\/02\/25\/protesters-pack-the-capitol-again-they-say-if-they-cant-stop-right-to-work-bill-they-must-at-least-be-heard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hatred<\/a> for such laws, they have an overall positive economic impact.\n<\/p>\n<p data-component=\"block:paragraph\" class=\"f-body-1\">\n    Three years later, NERA has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nera.com\/publications\/archive\/2018\/nera-economists-comment-on-the-economic-evidence-supporting-righ.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">updated the report<\/a> with additional data that reinforce its original findings. Specifically, the updated report presents the following information about the economic effects of right-to-work laws:\n<\/p>\n<ul data-component=\"block:list\" class=\"f-body-1 list-disc pl-16\">\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cPrivate sector employment grew by 27 percent in RTW states between 2001 and 2016, compared to 15 percent in non-RTW states.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cOn average, the annual unemployment rate in RTW states was 0.4 percentage points lower than in non-RTW states. In concrete terms, if non-RTW states had had the same unemployment rate as RTW states in 2017, approximately 249,000 more people would have been employed.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cOutput has also grown faster in RTW than in non-RTW states, rising by 38 percent between 2001 and 2016, compared to 29 percent in non-RTW states. Four of the top five states with the largest growth in real per capita output over this period are RTW states.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cThe gap in manufacturing output is also substantial: Real manufacturing output rose by over 30 percent in RTW states between 2001 and 2016 compared with 21 percent in non-RTW states.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cHigher growth rates translated into higher personal incomes: Personal income in RTW states rose over ten percentage points more than in non-RTW states between 2001 and 2016, 39 percent versus 26 percent.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"mb-space-2\">\n                                    \u201cBusinesses tend to locate in RTW states, as evidenced by the more rapid growth of firms and establishments.\n                            <\/li>\n<li class=\"\">\n                                    \u201cAs of 2017, about four percent of private sector workers in RTW states belonged to unions, compared with about nine percent in non-RTW states.\u201d\n                            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-component=\"block:paragraph\" class=\"f-body-1\">\n    As this blog <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/article\/right-work-laws-the-economic-evidence\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">noted<\/a> in 2015, the economic effects of right-to-work laws have long been debated, and those opposed to them routinely <a href=\"https:\/\/aflcio.org\/issues\/right-work\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">denounce<\/a> them and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/publication\/right-to-work-states-have-lower-wages\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cherry-pick data<\/a> to make their case.  Just as the original NERA report demonstrated, though, after three years the evidence across all indicators continues to suggest that right-to-work laws are good for the economy, notwithstanding arguments to the contrary.\n<\/p>\n<p>About the author<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"absolute inset-0 w-full h-full object-cover   w-full h-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/assets\/images\/headshots\/2022-2-8-Redmond.jpg\" data-  width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" style=\"object-position:47.85% 37.89%\" alt=\"Sean P. Redmond\" data-lazyloadimg-img=\"\" data-srcset-transformer=\"srcset:1x1\" data-lqip-transformer=\"lqip:1x1\" data-parent=\"block:author-bio\"\/>Sean P. Redmond<\/p>\n<p class=\"f-body-1 mt-16\">Sean P. Redmond is Vice President, Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n<p class=\"f-body-1 mt-16 print:hidden\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/bio\/sean-p-redmond\" class=\"hover:text-link-on hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the years since the 1947 passage of the Taft-Hartley Act that permitted states to pass right-to-work laws,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[10150,64,10155,420,63293,10153,10149,63291,63292,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-96169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-articletype-genericarticle","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cms-editorial","11":"tag-jobs","12":"tag-program-employment-policy","13":"tag-program-strategic-advocacy","14":"tag-sitegroup-mainchamber","15":"tag-topic-employment-policy","16":"tag-topic-unions","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114924064866760907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}