Ohio is Hurting
Ohio’s jobs economy is one of the worst in the United States no matter what time frame you analyze:
- 37th worst during the boom years of the 1990s
- 50th worst during the lost decade of the 2000s
- Ohio’s private sector netted a mere 208,000 jobs over the last twenty-two years
- That translates to a net of fewer than 10,000 jobs per year in the 7th most populous state in the US.
There are fewer jobs today in Ohio than there were in January 1990 in five out of ten industry sectors:
- Mining & Logging; Construction; Manufacturing; Trade, Transportation & Utility; and Information.
- In four other industry sectors, there are fewer jobs today than in January 2000: Financial Activities; Professional & Business Services; Leisure & Hospitality; and Other Services.
How to Fix Ohio’s Jobs Economy
Ohio’s job market must become more competitive in the global environment in which we live. If Ohio wants to accelerate job creation and significantly increase its competitiveness, it must move to protect the freedom of workers who choose not to join a labor union and free employers from the rigidity of burdensome labor contracts.
How Do We Know Workplace Freedom is Good for a State’s Economy?
Compare Workplace Freedom States to Forced Union States
- The average net job growth in workplace freedom states is over 40% – FIVE TIMES AS MUCH as forced union Ohio
- Since 2009, 3 out of every 4 jobs created in the United States were created in Workplace Freedom states
- This is all despite the fact that workplace freedom states have 65 million fewer people than forced union states
Of note – the fifteen states with the weakest job growth since 1990, of which Ohio is one, are all forced unionization states.
Personal Income Growth in Workplace Freedom States
Not only do worker freedom states create more jobs, but the growth of real personal income in those states also greatly exceeds the rate in forced unionization states. From 1977 to 2008:
- The growth in real per capita income in workplace freedom states is significantly better than forced union Ohio, which is over 20% behind workplace freedom states in wage growth.
This lower growth means Ohio families have less money in their pocket than they would have had if Ohio had protected worker freedom over the last three decades.
If Ohioans want economic freedom – a healthy job market with rising per capita income, we must free workers and their employers from the burden of forced unionization.
See Workplace Freedom Fact Sheet from National Institute for Labor Relations Research
Read about history of Forced Unionization and Workplace Freedom