Card Check Will Worsen Pittsburgh’s Competitive Disadvantage

Two of the most important economic and demographic developments over the past twenty years or so have been the movement of people away from the Northern and North central states to Right to Work (RTW) states and the much faster job growth experienced in the Right to Work states as compared to the states suffering out-migration. For example, between 2000 and 2007, there was a net outflow of 3.4 million people from large states in the Northern and North Central regions while the five Atlantic seaboard Right to Work states experienced a net inflow of 2.6 million people. During the same period, the seaboard RTW states enjoyed an 8 percent gain in the number of private sector jobs while private sector jobs in the large Northern states actually fell by 2 percent. This overall decline was led by a large drop in Michigan jobs but none of the other states posted a gain of more than two percent. Continue