Longtime Economic Laggard Indiana’s Output Growth Rose to Eighth Fastest in the Nation in 2012

Freshly released U.S. Commerce Department data on 2012 economic output growth in the 50 states add to the evidence that Indiana employees and businesses are gaining ground in the wake of the enactment by the Hoosier Legislature of the 24th state law prohibiting the extraction of forced union dues and fees as a condition of employment in early 2012.

See the link below for the press release on annual state gross domestic product (GDP) growth issued yesterday morning by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

BEA data show that last year Indiana’s real GDP growth was 3.30%, well above the national average of 2.46% and the eighth highest in the nation.  Newly Right to Work Indiana’s 2012 growth is especially impressive when you consider that, from 2002-2011, its compound annual growth in real GDP was just 1.07%, well below the national average of 1.41%.  And unlike most of the other states experiencing high growth in 2012, Indiana’s superior performance can’t be even partially accounted for either by a housing-based recovery (since Hoosier housing prices never really crashed, by national standards) or by energy drilling.

Of course, the primary reason Hoosier citizens successfully pressed their elected officials to pass a Right to Work law was their belief that forced unionism is morally wrong.  Economic considerations were secondary.  Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that more and more data indicate that the Right to Work proponents who predicted that a ban on forced union dues and fees would give a boost to economic growth (encompassing employee compensation and jobs as well as output) were correct.

BEA News Release (GDP by State)