Michigan Trails Right to Work States In Real, Disposable Per Capita Income

### Residents of Every Midwestern Right to Work State Are Better off Than Michiganians

Just a few years ago, Colorado State University business professor Raymond Hogler, one of the most prominent academic opponents of state Right to Work laws in the U.S., acknowledged (in a paper coauthored with economist Robert LaJeunesse): “A number of studies present statistical data substantiating the point that right to work states create and retain more manufacturing jobs.â€

The Hogler-LaJeunesse concession regarding factory jobs also applies to private-sector jobs in general. Between 2002 and 2007, for example, private-sector jobs in Right to Work states increased by a net 9.6%. That’s nearly triple the relatively small increase in private-sector jobs experienced by non-Right to Work states over this period.

Non-Right to Work Michigan, where Big Labor wields “exclusive†(monopoly) power to bargain with employers over the wages, benefits, and work rules of a higher share of private-sector employees than in all but one other state in the continental U.S., has an especially dismal employment picture. Along with forced-dues Ohio, which suffered a 0.4% private-sector job decline from 2002-2007, Michigan is one of just two states with negative job growth over the five year period. And Michigan’s decline of 5.2% is far worse than Ohio’s.

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