How Much Is Pro-Forced Unionism Federal Labor Policy Costing America?

### With Repeal of Forced Dues in 2000, Annual GDP Could Have Been $436 Billion Higher by 2006

No one can state with certainty the price tag of the federal labor-law provisions that authorize the firing of roughly 7.3 million Americans employees should they refuse to pay union dues or fees as a job condition.

However, data issued last fall by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) indicate that, had Congress abolished federally-imposed union dues at the turn of the millennium, by 2006 the annual national economic output would have increased by an additional $436 billion in real 2000 dollars.

BEA data show that between 2000 and 2006 the combined real output of states with Right to Work laws barring all forced union dues and fees grew by 3.13% a year. That’s nearly half again as fast as the combined 2.11% real annual output growth of states that do not protect employees from federally-imposed forced union dues. (Oklahoma, which adopted its Right to Work law in September 2001, is excluded from this analysis. See Table I for more information.)

To put it another way, had the entire country grown as fast as the Right to Work states did over just this six-year period, by 2006 our national gross domestic product (GDP) would have been $11.727 trillion in chained 2000 dollars, $436 billion more than the actual figure of $11.291 trillion.