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| Published: | 2017-Feb-15 |
| Last Updated: | 2017-Feb-15 |
| Principal Writer: | Barry Shatzman |
 | Understanding The Issue |
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 | The Rumor Mill |
National Right-to-Work Act
2017 (HR-785)
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Will Right-to-Work laws create jobs?
An argument made for Right-to-Work laws is that they bring job growth to states that implement them. They don't, according to the Economic Policy Institute report.
Firstly, effects related to right-to-work laws are difficult to measure, as most states that enact right-to-work laws also invoke other policies such as low taxes and looser environmental restrictions.
Even if the laws were effective in luring jobs to right-to-work states from other states, the effect would become diluted as more and more states enacted the laws. If the law was nationwide, there would be no such effect.
But they aren't even effective at doing that, the report states. In Oklahoma - the focus of the report - manufacturing employment shrunk each year since the state adopted its right-to-work law.
It is worth mentioning that similar reasoning has been used to argue against increasing the minimum wage. Similarly, there is no strong evidence showing that lower wages increases employment (or vice-versa) - at least at the levels being discussed.