Since 1990, nearly all of the top 10 states for job growth are right-to-work states, while nearly all of the 10 states with the least amount of job growth are non-right-to-work states.
More broadly, 18 out of the 25 states with the fastest employment growth are right-to-work states while 19 of the 25 states with the slowest growth are non-right-to-work states, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For the past nearly quarter of a century, right-to-work states have averaged job growth at about twice the rate of non-right-to-work states.
Excluding Michigan and Indiana (which became right-to-work in 2013 and 2012, respectively) would mean that 21 out of the 25 states with the slowest employment growth are forced unionization states. And that all of the 10 states with the least amount of job growth for the past quarter century are non-right-to-work states.
The employment growth was measured from January of 1990 to April of 2014.
Professor Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan-Flint and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the results are not surprising.
"This confirms previous research that shows that economic performance when measured by job growth, unemployment rates, income growth, or new business creation is generally higher in right-to-work states than in forced unionism states," Perry said. "When thousands of firms make decisions on the expansion of their existing operations, opening businesses or factories in new locations, and possibly relocating their businesses, labor costs and labor flexibility are primary considerations. Compared to forced unionism states, right-to-work states offer U.S. and U.S. based companies a more business friendly environment, lower labor costs and greater workplace flexibility, and it makes sense that right-to-work states have demonstrated a clear 'job growth advantage' over their forced unionism counterparts since 1990."
The employment gains cannot be explained by the growth of any particular industry. For example, while the United States has seen a boom in oil and gas production in recent years, the states benefiting the most from this industry’s growth are almost evenly split between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, five of the top 10 oil-producing states were right-to-work over the time period, while four were forced-unionization states and one changed about halfway through. Here are the top 10 states for crude oil production (right-to-work states are in bold): Texas, North Dakota, California, Alaska, Oklahoma (became right-to-work in 2001), New Mexico, Louisiana, Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas.
Similarly, according to the EIA, five of the top 10 gas producing states were right-to-work over the time period while four were forced unionization and one changed about halfway through. Here are the top 10 states for natural gas production (right-to-work states are in bold): Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma (became right-to-work in 2001), Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia and Utah.
The 10 states with the greatest overall employment growth (right-to-work in bold): Nevada, Utah, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.
The top 10 states with the least employment growth: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan (became a right-to-work state in 2013), New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine and Massachusetts.
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See also:
Right-to-Work States See Larger Gains
Right-to-Work Laws Lead To More People, More Jobs and Higher Pay
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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Select Few Benefit from Film Subsidies
While crumbling roads affect everyone
A story in MLive on the movie "Batman vs. Superman" being filmed in metro Detroit demonstrates why it is so hard to get rid of programs that are nearly universally seen as economically destructive.
Susan Dorris, Oakland County film commissioner, provided little concrete evidence of any real economic impact the project will have, despite Warner Bros., which made $1.2 billion last year, receiving $35 million in corporate welfare courtesy of Michigan taxpayers.
"I have heard the term 'cast of thousands,' and I don't know if that means it's digitally created or its actual people employed," she said. "But I do know they will be using a lot of extras."
Reading the article, people get the idea that the film subsidies are a great deal. They are not.
There is a lot of economic literature on film subsidy programs, and it is nearly unanimous that they are a poor way to spend taxpayer dollars. Conservatives, liberals and everyone in between find the cost to be much greater than the benefit.
It is only by focusing on the benefits — an alleged "hundreds of (temporary) jobs for crew members" and "6,000 (low-paying, temporary) jobs for extras" — and ignoring the costs that makes the program look good. Bear in mind that Michiganders have spent $450 million on film subsidies so far with no real gain in the number of actual film jobs.
MLive also reported that part of the production could take place at the Michigan Motion Pictures Studio in Pontiac. The studio missed three payments on $18 million in bond obligations, and so under a deal made in 2010 by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the payments were covered by the underfunded state and public school employee pension funds.
This also is a case of concentrated benefits with diffuse costs and it is hard to justify state taxpayers propping up a film that admits to only having an impact in Oakland and Wayne counties. A select number of carpenters and caterers might see a temporary gain from the production if they are hired to build sets or provide food, but what good does that do all the other carpenters and caterers statewide who are forced to chip in to subsidize metro Detroiters?
Estimates show it costs about $15 to fill a pothole. The $35 million subsidy "Batman vs. Superman" is receiving could fill about 2.3 million potholes. Wouldn't that be a better use of that money?
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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