Right to Work Boosts Manufacturing Growth

Nine of the Top 12 States For 2003-2013 Factory Output Gains Are Right to Work.

Total 2003-2013 GDP growth in the 22 states that had Right to Work laws on the books throughout the period was 21.5%, significantly greater than the national average and 6.8 percentage points greater than the average for states lacking Right to Work protections throughout the period.

In the manufacturing sector, Right to Work states’ growth advantage was even wider. From 2003 to 2013, Right to Work states’ real manufacturing GDP increased by 26.1% — or almost double the forced-unionism average.

Nine of the 10 states showing the greatest declines in manufacturing GDP lack Right to Work laws. But nine of the
12 states with the greatest manufacturing GDP gains are Right to Work.

“In industry after industry,” Mr. Leen
explained, “union bosses have negotiated contracts requiring rigid job classifications that waste time and money, ultimately to the detriment of workers’ paychecks and job security. “Starting in the late 1980’s, it became increasingly apparent that companies under rigid union monopoly-bargaining rules like the Big Three automakers were being crushed by union-free domestic
competition, which is very often based in Right to Work states. “Within the past few years, manufacturing union bosses have finally responded by grudgingly allowing some reforms of work rules and inefficient health-insurance and pension systems. But for the most part it has been too little, too late.”

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