Tuesday I put up the Department of Labor Chart showing the unemployment rates for each state, along with the list of Right-to-Work states vs Union "Pay-to-Work" states (those with no right-to-work laws) and when the lists were compared it showed that 8 of 10 right-to-work states were listed in the top ten states with the lowest unemployment ranking and 7 of 10 states without right-to-work laws were in the top ten states with the highest unemployment ranking.
Average unemployment in Right-to-Work states: 6.90%
Average unemployment in states without Right-to-Work Laws: 7.88%
(See the chart and lists here)
Obama's argument when he visited Michigan to pitch his tax the rich death trap, but decided to weigh in on the battle between Unions who are pushing for a forced "pay-to-work" where they can require that workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of their employment, whether that worker wishes to join the union or not, and Michigan lawmakers, was "These so-called right-to-work laws don't have anything to do with economics -- they have everything to do with politics," Obama said. "What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money."
On Tuesday, Investors Business Daily provides data from the US Labor Department and US Commerce Department that is in direct contrast to Obama's lie shown above.
According to Michigan's Mackinac Center, using data taken from the
Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics,
private-sector, inflation-adjusted employee compensation in
right-to-work states increased by 12% between 2001 and 2011 compared
with just 3% over the same period in forced-unionization states.
These good wages came from good jobs. Employment in right-to-work states expanded 2.4% over the same stretch vs. a 3.4% decline in non-right-to-work states. Ironically, Obama is taking credit for jobs created in RTW states.
All Politics
According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, right-to-work states (excluding Indiana, which passed a RTW law in early 2012) "were responsible for 72% of all net household job growth across the U.S. from June 2009 through September 2012."
This is why people vote with their feet and move to these states. RTW states experienced large population gains of 15.3% from 2000 to 2010, compared to 5.9% in non-RTW state
One last little tidbit of information, but highly relevant.
States with right-to-work laws have significantly less debt than states Union pay-to-work states.
Measure
|
Right-To-Work States
|
Non Right-To-Work States
|
Average State Debt Per Capita
|
$9,456
|
$16,486
|
Average State Debt Per Capita Ranking
|
14.8
|
34.6
|
Average State Debt Per Private Sector Worker
|
$26,920
|
$44,399
|
Average State Debt Per Private Sector Worker Ranking
|
16.5
|
33.2
|
Average Total State Debt (in thousands)
|
$54,001,405
|
$108,621,111
|
To Recap: Right-to-Work states have lower unemployment, higher real compensation and less debt than unionized pay-to-work states that have no right-to-work laws.
That leaves one glaringly obvious question for the 26 states and Washington DC that have not passed right-to-work laws...... what they hell are they waiting on?