Professor: West Virginia Needs Right to Work Law

The Wheeling Intelligencer reports:

Russell Sobel, professor of economics at West Virginia University, strongly believes the state’s economy would benefit if the Legislature were to support a right to work law . . . .

Sobel could not be more correct in his analysis. The Intelligencer noted Sobel’s comments:

“When you consider job growth, there is substantial evidence that states with right-to-work laws tend to attract more jobs than states without them.” . . .

“States with right to work laws have labor unions, but only workers who want to join the union do so, which is much different from West Virginia where firms are unable to hire employees who are not members of the union . . . . From 2003 to 2005, the income for average citizens in right to work states grew by an average of 1.8 percent, but income only grew by 1.4 percent in West Virginia,” he said.

Sobel also said the average real per capita income for residents in right-to-work states was $4,083 higher than for non-right to work states in 2005.

“The average prosperity for most West Virginians would increase if we had a right-to-work law,” Sobel said.

Sobel’s report has set off bipartisan angst among elected officials who depend on forced-union dues and PAC money for their re-election.

[State] Delegate Orphy Klempa, D-Ohio, and state Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio, said the adoption of a right to work law would not help the state attract more jobs.

But all Klempa and McKenzie need to do is look at the economic record of Oklahoma since it adopted a Right to Work law. The Enid News points out that passage of the Right to Work Law has given companies a real reason to relocate in the Sooner State.

It’s not the first time we have noted news reports mentioning the tremendous benefits that Right to Work has created in Oklahoma. West Virginia politicians should take note.