Right to Work States’ 2013-2018 Manufacturing Job Growth Advantage: Greater Than 2:1

Last week, the U.S. Labor Department issued updated and revised annual data for payroll manufacturing employment in each of the 50 states.

The newly-published figures for 2018 show that 6.76 million manufacturing jobs — or 53% of all factory jobs across the U.S.  — are located in the 27 states that have passed and implemented Right to Work laws making union financial support and membership completely voluntary.

Excluding the three states that adopted and began enforcing bans on forced union dues and fees  between 2015 and 2017 (Wisconsin, West Virginia and  Kentucky), total manufacturing employment in Right to Work states rose by 425,000, or 7.6%, from 2013 through 2018.  In absolute as well as percentage terms, those gains are more than double forced-unionism states’ factory job growth (175,000 and 3.1%).

The six states with the greatest percentage gains in 2013-2018 payroll manufacturing employment (Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Nevada and Utah) are all Right to Work. But three of the four states with the greatest percentage manufacturing job losses are forced-unionism.

The six states with the greatest percentage growth in payroll manufacturing employment over the past five years are located in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern regions of the U.S. But they all have one thing in common:  Right to Work laws prohibiting forced union dues and fees as a job condition. Image: Flickr/Toyota Manufacturing