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Graph of the Day: A Bigger Picture of RTW
There's more ways to look at so-called “right to work” (RTW) legislation than simply examining Oklahoma (though there is value in that case study). Most states have either been RTW or non-RTW for decades, which means we have a large national data set to examine to see if there are systemic differences between the two approaches.
Pulling from this store of information, we get today's graph.
![[Graph: click title to view in browser]](/assets/uploads/article/Bigger_Picture_RTW.png)
(Data from St. Louis Federal Reserve)
The website for the St. Louis Federal Reserve allows me to combine up to 10 different data sources in a single line, which means I could look at 10 RTW states and 10 non-RTW states. To approach random selection, I took the first 10 states from an alphabetical list of RTW states and combined them to get the red line; I then took the first 10 states from an alphabetical list of non-RTW states and combined them to get the blue line.
Both sets of states are broadly representative of the larger RTW and non-RTW populations. RTW states tend to skew towards the South, with decent representation in the Midwest and the Mountain West. Non-RTW states also spot the Midwest and Mountain West, but are otherwise weighted towards the Northeast and the West Coast. The random collections of states reflect these general patterns.
This graph compares the two groups on unemployment rate to see if there are serious differences between the two groups. With the exception of the late '80s, the two lines are very, very close. During the late '90s, RTW states experienced higher unemployment rates than non-RTW states, though I'm willing to bet that's a result of other economic factors and not solely RTW laws.
Once again, we see that RTW doesn't do anything for new job creation. It just makes conditions worse for those that do have jobs in the industries most affected by RTW. Minnesotans should question whether weakening our workers for no reason really reflects our values.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Job Growth Unemployment Working / Middle Class Issues Graphs
26 Comments
February 24, 2012 at 3:13 pm
National RTW legislation would cure everything. We would eliminate companies relocating in low wage states: then we could all relax and work for slave wages in our crumbling home towns - nirvana.
February 24, 2012 at 2:11 pm
It is idiotic to think government doesn’t create jos, even private ones. The hundreds of thousands of civilian contracted jobs overseas is one example. The thousands of jobs created through highway dollar expenditures is another. Private investment dollars create no more jobs than government investment dollars.
Is a contract spent on Boeing create jobs? Conservatives need to start thinking.
February 21, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Sure was Ginny, so to put this in context, how many of these Black and Native American criminals are your Unions hiring, RTW or not?
February 20, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Thanks Ginny, it is always nice to see that someone else is paying attention too. Did you see the PBS documentary about the 4 plants that had adapted to humans? It explains clearly why it is non toxic and has so many benificial compounds being extracted from it in Europe and elsewhere.
February 20, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Bernice, a few bad cops doesn’t come close to explaining what is happening here. Nor does it explain why public employees are the big winners here. While I feel most public employee members have no idea what the results of their Unions policies have been, this is organized self deception at its best. Finally we are starting to talk again about the overmedicating of children. We are asking why so many women are being addicted over depresion at the same time the Psycological communities is trying to drug us for their new malady “Death Syndrom” for when we are depressed after a loved ones death. We are starting to ask the question, why? we are not getting good answers. Sadly for public employee Unions even the appearance of their needs being more important than the publics health and future is hard to shake.
February 20, 2012 at 6:59 pm
But how can being unionized possibly be related to racism? Unions don’t help just white workers; they help all workers by letting them be part of a group that negotiates together instead of each person being at the mercy of a large corporation or a slavedriver boss.
February 20, 2012 at 6:44 pm
//“Now with the RACIST connection between the teachers Union and the most racist education system we have ever had in Minnesota established; the other public employee connection to the racist, the 9 to 1 ratio in Minnesota’s persecution of marijuana users, also needs be added to the Union attack on citizen list.//
This is all just utterly ridiculous!! WHAT “racist connection” has been “established” between “the teachers union” and our educational system? If anything, most unions work AGAINST racism. You are just pulling this out of your - um, hat!
February 20, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Bernice: I know that you know that people arrested for the exact same crime get different outcomes, depending on their color.
I think many of you do not understand this. This special treatment for minorities starts in school and continues on for the rest of a person’s life. The whole drug scene is rigged, although it has been proven over and over by various statistics, center for disease control and others, that whites use more drugs than do blacks. They just stay hidden in their own white suburban communities.
If you are not already watching, watch the PBS specials on slavery and beyond, especially “Slavery by another name.” And all the other wonderful programs airing this month, Black History month.
Slavery and racism are America’s original sin. And are the foundation for a host of current problems today, some that seem unrelated.
February 20, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Bill: It sounds as though you think more people of color are arrested because the cops and teachers are unionized. It may be that some cops are racist and therefore arrest more people of other races, but I fail to see the slightest connection between unionization to protect their rights as workers and racism in our society.
February 20, 2012 at 11:57 am
Jamie H., first I am not in a Union and haven’t been since the Steelworkers in 1978. Yes I did get involved and was attacked by both the Union and the Company less than 2 weeks after filing for Union president of my local. I have been an active DFL delegate since 1976 and have seen the rise in power of Teachers and White Collar public employee unions. Now with the RACIST connection between the teachers Union and the most racist education system we have ever had in Minnesota established; the other public employee connection to the racist, the 9 to 1 ratio in Minnesota’s persecution of marijuana users, also needs be added to the Union attack on citizen list. Unions have little time left to shut their mouths and start listening and changing or you will have outlived your usefulness.
February 18, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Mr. Hamm, Unions aren’t perfect, but the alternative - not having unions - is WAY less “perfect.” I don’t love everything about the union I belong to, but if they weren’t there, I’d be earning less money, have fewer benefits, and no protection against bosses who may want to get rid of me just because they don’t like my politics or because they want to give my job to a friend (both of which have actually happened to a friend, and to me, respectively).
If there’s something you don’t like about a union, you get involved and try to change it. Majority rules, though, so your ideas may not be adopted. That’s life. But condemning your union or all unions because of that makes no sense. We are simply much better off WITH unions than without them.
February 16, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Wrong Paul!! Don’t vote the union out, vote the Congress out. They’re the ones who are not serving it’s constituents well.
February 16, 2012 at 2:19 pm
If any union isn’t serving its members well, there’s a simple solution: vote them out! That’s quite different from legislating them out with this ALEC-sponsored Right To Freeload nonsense. This would ultimately take the good with the bad and expedite the race to the bottom that ALEC is promoting.
February 16, 2012 at 12:09 pm
As a former union member and current self employer, I would tend to agree that the anti RTW position should be the comparison of individual prosparity. Did the per capita individual income increase over the past 10 years, and what is that actual dollar amount. The proponents are stating the percentage of increase in wages in RTW states…but it isn’t difficult to have high percentages when the base is so low.
Also, it is my experience in a few RTW states that what this means is anyone whom wishes to work your job may offer a lesser bid to work than you are currently working for…thereby threatening your job and you may having to drop your wage to compete. Is this the same effect that the proposed RTW will have on MN jobs?
February 16, 2012 at 10:50 am
Hi Ginny. I believe the Census Bureau publishes figures on the median income in both states and cities/towns or counties.
February 16, 2012 at 10:43 am
Legender, the point here is that governments don’t create private sector jobs in either situation. If you refuse to discuss the over riding issue here which should first be; Are the Unions serving their members based on union membership input. With opposition to this discussion in any form, energy aimed at addressing this issue unions will continue to deteriorate with union membership decline. Without mechanism for internal change and the willingness to listen to thier members, Unions are just another dictatorial entity demanding our support and calling us names if we refuse to capitulate.
February 16, 2012 at 10:37 am
I don’t think this is the graph we need to show the the difference between RTW and non-RTW states. We need a graph that shows a difference in wages or one that shows which states have the most people living in poverty. I think many people forget how the unions efforts over the years directly influences their job benefits. This RTW thing is only a way to destroy unions so companies can pay minimim wages, not offer health care, not offer pensions and so on.
February 16, 2012 at 10:14 am
Strengthening the RTW opposition’s case is not going to happen by letting the proponents define the argument. This graph demonstrates a defensive rather than leadership approach to tackling the issue.
Especially if job availability data shows no significant difference, influencing opinion is going to require digging deeper and comparing compensation for like jobs, including benefits, and other quality of life and state economy issues. I’d love to see that information.
February 16, 2012 at 9:47 am
Bill, the point of this graph is that the argument for RTW is that it makes any State more job-friendly. It (so the pundits say) keeps employers costs down so they will employ more people and so fix the scandalous job market; so comparing RTW to non-RTW makes sense.
February 16, 2012 at 9:34 am
Why are you focusing on the jobs graphs, which prove little? If you want to focus on jobs, look at China. The point: if you pay people less, you will attract employers?
MN2020 dove headlong into the Republican’s trap. RTW is not about creating jobs, it is about the quality of the jobs. The lower-middle class is in a hopeless position and RTW will only intensify the pain.
Generally, journalists are out of touch with Life in America. MN2020 buries the lead on RTW. RTW will destroy millions of Americans hopes and dreams. Period.
February 16, 2012 at 9:22 am
Ginny asks a great question. I’d also like to see the data she has requested.
February 16, 2012 at 9:01 am
Sorry Michael, I don’t see anything in those charts to use on either side of the argument. I don’t think your combining of the information in this manner has done anything but confuse the issue. How about giving us some information from different union memberships about how supportive they think their unions are of them. Also let us see just how supportive they are of their unions. Show us the real story here Michael, if you dare. Don’t let disgruntled exunionites like me speak for the masses, let the masses speak for themselves.
February 15, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Are there any figures on the state’s prosperity or the prosperity of workers?
Ginny says:
February 24, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I thought this was about RTW.