Right to Work States Fuel U.S. Economy

by Reed Larson

FOR RELEASE: August 28, 2001

If more freedom, more jobs and more after-tax income weren't reason enough for Oklahomans to support State Question 695, the Right to Work Law, the U.S. Commerce Department just gave them 34 additional ones.

According to the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released June 4, 34 states ranked higher than Oklahoma when it came to the real growth in gross state product (GSP) for the 50 states between 1992 and 1999.

GSP, the state counterpart to the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), is the market value of all the goods and services produced by labor and property located in a state. Real GSP growth, which adjusts for inflation, is considered one of the best indicators of a state's economic vitality.

The report reveals that Right to Work states -- especially those located west of the Mississippi -- paced U.S. economic growth throughout the 90's boom, just as they served as bulwarks of prosperity during the 1990-91 recession.

In "chained" dollars (an inflation-adjusting measure used by the BEA to account for the different goods and services produced in each state), Right to Work states' total real GSP grew by 38% from 1992-99, while total non-Right to Work GSP grew by just 29%.

During good times and especially during bad times, the record shows that enacting a law to protect employees' Right to Work gives a state a competitive edge.

Actually, this advantage was even more apparent during the last nationwide slowdown and lingering recession.

Between 1989 and 1992, constant-dollar GSP of the 21 Right to Work states grew 6.4%, over three times faster than the 1.8% growth experienced by states permitting forced unionism. Despite the hard times on the Farm Belt, Right to Work states grew over four times faster than Oklahoma's paltry 1.4%.

Right to Work states protect employees from the federal labor-law provisions that authorize forced union dues. Employees covered by Right to Work laws cannot be fired for refusing to pay dues or so-called "agency" fees to union officials whom federal bureaucrats have certified as their monopoly-bargaining agents.

In compulsory unionism states, like Oklahoma, where unencumbered federal forced-unionism policy authorizes such firings, productivity, wage and overall income growth are stunted as a consequence.

State Right to Work laws empower independent-minded employees to fight back against irresponsible and tyrannical union bosses by withholding their financial support.

When each employee has freedom of choice, union bosses are forced to tone down their disruptive class warfare. Employees then have a much better chance of reaching their full productive potential and reaping the benefits.

That's why almost every economic indicator shows that Right to Work and economic growth go hand and hand. So much so that, over the past decade, a net total of roughly five million Americans moved from forced-unionism states to Right to Work states.

The propensity of Big Labor puppet politicians to look you in the eye and pretend not to be aware of the mountain of evidence in favor of Right to Work would be laughable if it weren't such a serious matter.

In today's intensely competitive global economy, it would be a terrible mistake for Sooner State voters to reject SQ 695 and fail to extend the economic advantages of Right to Work to all Oklahomans.

The freedom conferred upon employees in Right to Work states has proven to be a boon for all citizens -- employees, employers, consumers and taxpayers. Oklahomans can choose this freedom come Sept. 25 by voting a resounding "yes" on Right to Work.

Mark Mix is senior vice president of the Springfield, Va.-based National Right to Work Committee®.