Right to Work Benefits Fact Sheet Winter 2026
Right To Work continues to free employees by helping protect choice and creating new opportunities.
New fact sheet from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research shows Right to Work states crushing it: faster job growth, higher real incomes, booming manufacturing, and more population gains vs. forced-unionism states (updated data).
Download the Winter 2026 Right to Work Benefits Fact Sheet One-Pager
Michigan became Right to Work in 2013. Wisconsin’s Right to Work law was adopted in 2015. West Virginia banned forced union dues and fees in 2016, and Kentucky became Right to Work in 2017. These four states are excluded from all multi-year analyses. They are included among the Right to Work states for analyses covering only the period since their laws took effect. Since the Missouri Right to Work law, adopted in 2017, never took effect, it is never counted as a Right to Work state. Michigan’s Right to Work law was repealed in March 2023, but the law remained in effect until February 2024. To obtain more detailed information about how any or all the above comparative economic data were derived, contact Stan Greer.
SOURCES
- Percentage Growth in the Number of People Employed (2014-2024) Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Household Survey.
- Growth in Manufacturing, Private-Sector Payroll Employment (2014-2024) BLS Establishment Survey.
- Percentage Growth in Total Private-Sector, Payroll Employment (2014-2024) BLS Establishment Survey.
- Growth in Population with at least a Bachelor’s Degree Aged 25-64 (2013-2023) Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (BOC)
- Real Growth in Disposable Personal Income (2014-2024) U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
- Growth in the Number of Residents Aged 35-54 (2014-2024) BOC.
- Growth in the Number of Residents Aged 5-17 (2014-2024) BOC.
- Percentage Growth in Real Household Consumption (2013-2023) BEA.
- Cost of Living-Adjusted Per Capita Disposable Income (2024) Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), BEA.
- Unfunded Liabilities Per Capita of Public Pension Plans (2022) American Legislative Exchange Council.
- Welfare (TANF) Recipients Per 1,000 Residents (FY 2024) U.S. Admin. for Children and Families; BOC.
- New Privately-Owned Single-Unit Housing Authorizations per 1,000 Residents (CY 2024, preliminary) BOC.