Compare Indiana with states that have “right to work” for less laws. You’ll see why we’re better off without one.
Anti-worker and business-backed groups are pushing to pass a so-called “right to work” law here in Indiana. Supporters claim these laws create economic prosperity, but many measures show Indiana’s working families are better off than working families in states with “right to work” for less laws.
Wages
- Median weekly wages in 17 of the 22 states with these laws are lower than the $714 median wage here in Indiana.
- Indiana’s manufacturing workers earn $2.17 more an hour than the average manufacturing worker wage in states with “right to work” for less laws.
Health Care
- We’re more likely to have insurance (14.2 percent are uninsured, compared with 16.7 percent in “right to work” states). So are our children (8.6 percent of Indiana children are uninsured, compared with 10.4 percent in states with these laws).
- We’re more likely to have job-based health insurance than residents in 17 of the 22 states with “right to work” laws. Overall, 64.3 percent of us have job-based health insurance, compared with 60.1 percent in states with these laws.
Pensions
- We’re more likely to have pensions. Only 43 percent of private-sector workers have employer-provided pension coverage in “right to work” states, compared with 53.1 percent here in Indiana.
Education
- Students here are more likely to be at grade level in math and reading. In Indiana, 35.1 percent of 8th grade students were proficient in math in 2007 (compared with 29.6 percent states with “right to work” for less laws) and 31.1 percent were proficient in reading (compared with 28.1 percent).
- States with these laws spend less to educate their children than we do in Indiana—$9,005 on average for the 2008–2009 school year, compared with $9,780 here in Indiana.
SOURCES: Corporation for Enterprise Development; Economic Policy Institute; Elise Gould, Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Erosion Accelerates in the Recession—Public Safety Net Catches Kids but Fails to Adequately Insure Adults, Economic Policy Institute, Nov. 16, 2010; National Education Association; U.S. Census Bureau.; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job-based health insurance coverage is for people younger than 65 and for 2008–2009. Pension coverage is for workers ages 18 to 64 who worked at least 20 hours per week and 26 weeks per year. The time period covered is a 2006–2008 three-year moving average.