Far More Families Are Realizing the ‘American Dream’ in Right to Work States
A scientific nationwide poll taken late last year (see the first link below) found that nearly nine out of 10 U.S. adults regard homeownership as an important part of their “American dream.” And U.S. Census Bureau data have long shown that the nearly universal aspiration to homeownership is far easier to realize in states with Right to Works states.
For example, the latest annual data tracking privately-owned, single-unit housing authorizations in the 50 states (see the link below) show that, according to the first estimate, there were an average of 2.8 permits for construction of privately-owned, single-unit houses per 1000 residents in the 24 Right to Work states last year. That’s more than double the average of 1.3 per 1000 residents in the 26 forced-unionism states.
The correlation between Right to Work laws prohibiting forced union dues and privately-owned, single-unit housing authorizations is quite robust. Fourteen of the 16 states with the most authorizations of such housing per capita in 2013 are Right to Work states. But 15 of the 17 bottom-ranking states lack Right to Work laws.
Of course, housing authorizations are only one of manifold pieces of evidence pointing to higher living standards and faster economic growth in Right to Work states than in forced-unionism states. Later this month the National Institute for Labor Relations Research will publish the latest update of a fact sheet that provides a short summary of this body of evidence.
In 2013, just 46% of Americans lived in one of the 24 Right to Work states, but  65% of all new privately owned single-unit housing authorizations occurred in such states. Image: www.aolcdn.com