Right-to-Work Hurts Everyone Workers in states with Right-to-Work laws have a consistently lower quality of life than in free bargaining states – lower wages; higher poverty, child poverty, and infant mortality rates; a greater likelihood of being uninsured; poorer education for their children; and a greater likelihood of being killed on the job.
Right-to-Work States Have Lower Wages and Incomes
The average worker in a Right-to-Work state makes $5,538 a year less than workers in free-bargaining states ($39,169 compared with $44,707). Weekly wages are $92 greater in free-bargaining states than in Right-to-Work states ($771.25 versus $679.55).
Median household income Right-to-Work states is $6,184 less than in Free-Bargaining states ($46,328 versus $52,513).
28.3 percent of the jobs in Right-to-Work states are in low wage occupations (defined as less than the amount needed to bring a family of four above the poverty line), compared with only 19.5 percent of jobs in Free Bargaining states.
Right-to-Work States Have a Larger Share of Uninsured Residents and a Smaller Share of Residents with Employment-Based Health Insurance
People in Right-to-Work states are more likely to be uninsured than people in free-bargaining states (16.7 percent versus 13.5 percent). Also, uninsured rates rose faster between 2000 and 2009 in Right to Work states (by 3.2 percentage points) than in Free Bargaining states (by only 1.9 percentage points).
Children in Right-to-Work states are also more likely to be uninsured than children in free bargaining states (10.4 percent versus 7.5 percent). Residents of Right-to-Work states are less likely to have employment-based health insurance than residents of Free-Bargaining states (55.0 percent versus 59.3 percent).
Employers in Right-to-Work states are also less likely to offer health insurance to their workers than employers in Free-Bargaining states (50.3 percent versus 56.7 percent). That difference is even more significant among small employers (those with less than 50 workers). In Right-to-Work states, only 34.6 percent of small employers offer their workers health insurance, compared with 43.8 percent of all small employers in Free-Bargaining states.
Right-to-Work States Have Higher Poverty and Infant Mortality Rates
Poverty rates are higher in Right-to-Work states (19.1 percent for all people and 26.0 percent for children) than in Free Bargaining states (16.6 percent for all people and 23.3 percent for children).
The infant mortality rate is 16.0 percent higher in Right-to-Work states than in Free-Bargaining states.
Right-to-Work States Spend Less on Education
Right-to-Work states spend $2,671 less per pupil on elementary and secondary education than free-bargaining states.
Students in Right-to-Work states are less likely to be at grade level in math and reading. In Right-to-Work states, 29.6 percent of 8th grade students are proficient in math (compared with 33.2 percent in Free-Bargaining states) and 28.1 percent are proficient in reading (compared with 32.1 percent in Free-Bargaining states).
Residents of Right-to-Work states are also less likely to have high school and college degrees. In Right-to-Work states, 84.9 percent of people 25 and older have completed high school (compared with 86.9 percent in Free Bargaining states) and 24.5 percent of people 25 and older have completed college (compared with 28.4 percent in Free-Bargaining states).
Right-to-Work States Have Higher Workplace Fatality Rates
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 52.9% higher in states with Right-to-Work laws.