“Labor-market freedom is a matter of justice, so we would support it wheth- er or not it spurred economic growth,” the Oct. 8 article said.
He claims that a new study seems to support the notion that not forcing union pay does indeed spur job growth. Sort of.
The article examines a
Fraser Institute study: “The literature, employing a variety of
approaches and data sources, generally finds that RTW states enjoy real
annual economic growth rates about 0.8% higher than those characterizing
non-RTW states, other factors held constant.”
That
number may go up to 1.8 percent, depending on how the information is
weighed, and on Keating and pal’s interpretation, it would seem to be
true. But wait. Read closely — they also admit the data “is not
conclusive.”
Is a maybe 0.8 percent increase a strong enough argument to warrant a worldwide anti-union push in Forbes? Keating
and co-author Brandon Dutcher go on to compare North and South Korea to
Oklahoma and Texas. So (plus!) unions also are communist. Now it all
makes sense.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2013.