Marathon Pundit: ILL-inois unable to celebrate National Employee Freedom Week

Friday, June 28, 2013

ILL-inois unable to celebrate National Employee Freedom Week

Writing for The Hill, Paul Kersey of the Illinois Policy Institute tells us that Illinois is unable to celebrate National Employee Freedom Week.

This week marks National Employee Freedom Week, a national campaign that celebrates individual freedoms regarding union membership. Sadly, many states, including my home state of Illinois, don’t have much to celebrate as far as employee freedom goes—we have long barred our citizens from exercising the right not to be in a union.

We should not do so any longer. If the 26 non-right-to-work states like Illinois are serious about expanding employee freedom—as well as economic opportunities and jobs—we should enact a right-to-work law. Right-to-work creates opportunities and spurs economic growth. According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, between 2002 to 2011, the economy of the average right-to-work state grew 18.1 percent, compared to just 10.6 percent in states without right-to-work laws.

With that growth comes much-needed jobs. Data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that employment in right-to-work states increased by 4.5 percent during the same period, while the number of jobs dropped 1.2 percent in other states. This has been particularly hard in Illinois, where unemployment stands at a staggering 9.3 percent.

Jobs aren't the only thing growing in right-to-work states. Disposable incomes grew faster in over the same period. In fact, if you account for cost of living using an index provided by the Council for Community and Economic Research, disposable incomes in 2011 were more than $2,500 higher in states with right-to-work laws than in states with forced unionization.