Job creation in Ohio lagged far behind all 22 workplace freedom states from 1991 to 2011, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records. Without cherry-picking data as union bosses must in order to defend forced unionism, total seasonally adjusted non-farm employment growth shows a huge advantage for residents of right to work states.
With the exception of Indiana, which passed a right to work law in February 2012, Ohio and each of its neighbors – Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky – allow unions to force workers to pay dues as a condition of employment.
During the two decades from 1991-2011, no workplace freedom state had a lower job creation rate than Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan.
Of the 22 states which protected the right of employees in unionized workplaces to choose whether to pay a union boss, 17 had job growth rates better than Ohio and all five of Ohio’s forced-unionism neighbors.
While varying demographics, geography, and innumerable government regulations affect businesses’ ability to create new jobs, the past 20 years have been marked by anemic growth in Ohio compared to every workplace freedom state.
Had Ohio matched the rate of job creation in Alabama – the worst-performing workplace freedom state – Ohio’s economy would have added 359,000 more jobs between December 1991 and December 2011.
A dozen workplace freedom states had job growth rates at least five times greater than Ohio’s. Nevada, Utah, and Arizona had job creation rates at least ten times greater than Ohio’s.
As the huge disparity in percentages might suggest, even workplace freedom states with far smaller populations added more new jobs than Ohio did from 1991-2011. Tennessee, with 5.2 million fewer residents than Ohio according to the 2010 Census, added nearly 200,000 more jobs.
While 277,300 jobs were created in Ohio, 914,900 jobs were created in Arizona. Ohio had a population of 11.5 million in 2010, compared to Arizona’s population of 6.4 million.
In Utah, with a 2010 population 8.7 million smaller than Ohio’s, 192,000 more jobs were created. Oklahoma had a 2010 population 7.8 million smaller than Ohio’s, but Oklahoma’s economy grew by 84,000 more jobs from 1991-2011.
North Carolina’s economy added 562,000 more jobs than Ohio’s, although North Carolina had 2 million fewer residents in 2010. South Carolina’s 2010 population was 6.9 million smaller than Ohio’s, but 50,000 more jobs were created in South Carolina than in Ohio.
Georgia, with 1.8 million fewer residents than Ohio as of 2010, added 684,000 more jobs in the 20-year period beginning in 1991.
Even Louisiana added 33,000 more jobs than Ohio did, despite the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and a population 7 million smaller than Ohio’s as of 2010.
Union bosses desperate to maintain the flow of forced dues often refer to right to work laws as “right to work for less.” Ohioans would do well to remember that the salary of a nonexistent job is always zero.
Media Trackers has previously reported that Ohio’s improving unemployment rate is due not to booming job creation, but to job seekers giving up.
Cross-posted from Media Trackers Ohio.