More Americans Moving To Right-To-Work States

Nathan Paul Mehrens

In August the U.S. Census Bureau released a report detailing interstate migration trends for the U.S. from 1995 to 2000. The results are interesting for a couple reasons.

First, Daniel Henninger in an August 29, 2003, Wall Street Journal editorial pointed out that the states that are gaining new residents from migration are largely the “red” states won by George W. Bush in 2000. There are exceptions, however, the figures show a migration trend into “Bush” territory.

Second, the migration trends are particularly interesting when you look at the states that have right-to-work laws, laws preventing employees from being fired for refusal to join a union, compared to the states without such laws.

The states suffering the largest net losses are all states without right-to-work laws. They include New York -874,248, California -755,536, and Illinois -342,616. On the flip side, the top destinations are all right-to-work states including Florida +607,023, Georgia +340,705, and North Carolina +337,883. Rounding out the top five are Arizona and Nevada on the right-to-work side (+316,148 and +233,934 respectively) and New Jersey and Pennsylvania on the non-right-to-work side (-182,829 and -131,296 respectively).

In states without right-to-work laws, fourteen plus the District of Columbia suffered a net loss compared to thirteen states with net gains. The total net increase for states with gains was 505,300 while the total in states with losses was -2,832,263. The result is that non-right-to-work states had a net loss of 2,326,963 people from 1995-2000.

In right-to-work states, only six suffered losses while sixteen enjoyed gains.

The right-to-work states with a net migration gain increased their ranks by 2,524,608. The right-to-work states with a negative figure lost only 169,591, putting the total net migration gain for all right to work states at 2,355,017.

One notable exception to the trend is Colorado which gained 162,633 people, the only non-right-to-work state to gain more than 100,000. The reason probably lies in the fact that Colorado, according to the Tax Foundation, ranks number 4 in the top 10 states for best business tax environment. Colorado’s favorable tax environment is a huge incentive to new business development within the state, resulting in more jobs and therefore more migrants.

Is it a coincidence that during this five-year stretch 2.3 million people moved to right-to-work states and 2.3 million left states without right-to-work laws? Probably not. William T. Wilson, Ph.D. in his report, The Impact of Compulsory Unionism on Economic Development, shows that the right-to-work states are enjoying greater economic development than states without right-to-work laws. For instance, during the years 1970-2000 the right-to-work states created 1.43 million manufacturing jobs and non-right-to-work states lost 2.18 million manufacturing jobs. These figures account for a 1.5% annual growth in manufacturing jobs in right-to-work states and a -.2% for non-right-to-work states.

Since right-to-work states are creating more jobs than non-right-to-work states it is logical that more people are moving to right-to-work states to take these jobs.

Another economic impact of migration is the hit that states’ budgets take when the state looses its population to other states.

California is a prime example. The Tax Foundation reports that the 2003 per capita tax burden in California is $3,670. The loss of three-quarters of a million people from 1995 to 2000 means that $2.77 billion in annual tax revenue has also left the state. Taking this one step further, if California had been able to attract a net gain in population the resulting difference in tax revenue would have been dramatic. If California had been able to attract people like Florida, which enjoyed a net gain of 607,023 during the same period, California’s total tax revenue would be $5 billion higher per year than it is today. An additional five billion every year would put a hefty dent in the state’s fiscal troubles.

In this day and age of serious concern over budget shortfalls state legislatures and governors should take note of these migration trends. The answer to solving a large part of a state’s budget deficit may lie not in raising taxes, but by encouraging more migration into the state by enacting a right-to-work law.

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Nathan Paul Mehrens is the Director of Research for Stop Union Political Abuse.
nathan@stopunionpoliticalabuse.org