Greer: Employees in Right To Work States Enjoy Higher Incomes

The National Institute for Labor Relations Research’s Stan Greer recently set the record straight about how much forced dues cost everyone in the state.

Barry Poulson, an emeritus professor at the University of Colorado and past president of the North American Economics and Finance Association, made an obvious point in a paper for the National Institute for Labor Relations Research: People, especially workers, are more likely to move to jurisdictions that offer a greater quality of life for themselves and their families. Workers rarely move to lower-wage areas.

Doctor Poulson noted, “We expect that jurisdictions with higher cost of living-adjusted incomes “would attract more workers.â€

Poulson’s analysis continues to explain why Big Labor-dominated, compulsory-unionism states like California and New York, with high salaries on paper, are losing workers and business owners. From July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022, these two states lost roughly 240,000 peak-earning residents (ages 35-54) due to net domestic out-migration to other states.

This fall, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, adjusted for interstate cost-of-living differences using an index calculated by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), a state government agency, reported that the average after-tax income per person last year in the 27 states with Right to Work laws banning forced union dues and fees was $3,700 per person more than the forced-unionism state average.

In reality, Right to Work households have thousands more dollars to spend each year than forced-unionism families. A $3,700 per capita purchasing power advantage is approximately $15,000 a year for a household of four!

Stan Greer, Spendable incomes lower in forced-union dues states like California, Orange County Register (ocregister.com))

Economic freedom allows people to choose how to spend the money they earn. Right To Work provides employees increased economic freedom.