IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jlabre/v44y2023i1d10.1007_s12122-023-09341-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What do Right-to-Work Laws do to Unions? Evidence from Six Recently-Enacted RTW Laws

Author

Listed:
  • Kyung-nok Chun

Abstract

Right-to-work (RTW) laws prohibit union security agreements in many U.S. states, and are frequently portrayed as a mortal threat to unionism in the country. This paper sheds new light on the old debate surrounding the effects of RTW legislation by evaluating their impacts in six U.S. states that adopted such laws in the 21st century. Using a mix of panel data methods, I find evidence that in the private sector, RTW laws decrease union coverage by more than 10 percent, all else equal. I find RTW laws to have only a small and insignificant effect on free-riding behavior as measured by the share of unionized workers who are nonmembers. Union formation through NLRB-administered elections do not appear to be adversely affected. RTW laws are also found to increase union wages and their premium over non-union wages, which plausibly reflect changes in union bargaining behavior. In the public sector, RTW laws are associated with declines in union coverage but may be confounded by other state-level policies aimed at weakening public sector unions. Separately evaluating the effects of the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which effectively made the entire U.S. public sector right-to-work, I find no evidence of any impact on union-related outcomes. Some of these findings are quite novel, and challenge conventional assumptions about how RTW laws impact unions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyung-nok Chun, 2023. "What do Right-to-Work Laws do to Unions? Evidence from Six Recently-Enacted RTW Laws," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 94-144, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:44:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s12122-023-09341-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s12122-023-09341-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12122-023-09341-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12122-023-09341-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. W. Robert Reed, 2003. "How Right-To-Work Laws Affect Wages," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 24(4), pages 713-730, October.
    2. Edward J. Schumacher, 1999. "What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members and Covered Nonmembers?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(3), pages 493-512, January.
    3. Ichniowski, Casey & Zax, Jeffrey S, 1991. "Right-to-Work Laws, Free Riders, and Unionization in the Local Public Sector," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(3), pages 255-275, July.
    4. Stevans Lonnie K, 2009. "The Effect of Endogenous Right-to-Work Laws on Business and Economic Conditions in the United States: A Multivariate Approach," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 595-614, October.
    5. William J. Moore & Robert J. Newman, 1985. "The Effects of Right-to-Work Laws: A Review of the Literature," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 38(4), pages 571-585, July.
    6. Gary Chaison, 2012. "The New Collective Bargaining," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, edition 127, number 978-1-4614-4024-6, October.
    7. Charlene Kalenkoski & Donald Lacombe, 2008. "Effects of Minimum Wages on Youth Employment: the Importance of Accounting for Spatial Correlation," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 303-317, December.
    8. Farber, Henry S, 1984. "Right-to-Work Laws and the Extent of Unionization," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(3), pages 319-352, July.
    9. Barry T. Hirsch & Edward J. Schumacher, 2004. "Match Bias in Wage Gap Estimates Due to Earnings Imputation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(3), pages 689-722, July.
    10. Eduardo Cavallo & Sebastian Galiani & Ilan Noy & Juan Pantano, 2013. "Catastrophic Natural Disasters and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1549-1561, December.
    11. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    12. Ozkan Eren & Serkan Ozbeklik, 2016. "What Do Right‐to‐Work Laws Do? Evidence from a Synthetic Control Method Analysis," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 173-194, January.
    13. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    14. Sebastian Galiani & Brian Quistorff, 2017. "The synth runner package: Utilities to automate synthetic control estimation using synth," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(4), pages 834-849, December.
    15. Davis, Joe C & Huston, John H, 1993. "Right-to-Work Laws and Free Riding," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(1), pages 52-58, January.
    16. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August.
    17. Ellwood, David T & Fine, Glenn, 1987. "The Impact of Right-to-Work Laws on Union Organizing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(2), pages 250-273, April.
    18. Taylor E. Dark Iii, 2000. "Labor and the Democratic Party: A Report on the 1998 Elections," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 21(4), pages 627-640, October.
    19. Edward J. Schumacher, 1999. "What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members and Covered Nonmembers?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(3), pages 493-512, January.
    20. James Feigenbaum & Alexander Hertel-Fernandez & Vanessa Williamson, 2018. "From the Bargaining Table to the Ballot Box: Political Effects of Right to Work Laws," NBER Working Papers 24259, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Lumsden, Keith G & Petersen, Craig H, 1975. "The Effect of Right-to-Work Laws on Unionization in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(6), pages 1237-1248, December.
    22. Gary Chaison, 2012. "Introduction: The New Collective Bargaining," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: The New Collective Bargaining, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 1-7, Springer.
    23. Christos Andreas Makridis, 2019. "Do Right-to-Work Laws Work? Evidence on Individuals’ Well-Being and Economic Sentiment," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(4), pages 713-745.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Jordan Jeffrey & Mathur Aparna & Munasib Abdul & Roy Devesh, 2021. "Did Right-To-Work Laws Impact Income Inequality? Evidence from U.S. States Using the Synthetic Control Method," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 45-81, January.
    3. Budd, John W & Na, In-Gang, 2000. "The Union Membership Wage Premium for Employees Covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 783-807, October.
    4. Gihleb, Rania & Giuntella, Osea & Tan, Jian Qi, 2023. "The Impact of Right-to-Work Laws on Long Hours and Work Schedules," IZA Discussion Papers 16588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Bruno Ferman & Cristine Pinto & Vitor Possebom, 2020. "Cherry Picking with Synthetic Controls," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 510-532, March.
    6. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    7. Girma, Sourafel & Paton, David, 2022. "Is assisted suicide a substitute for unassisted suicide?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    8. Nathan, Max, 2022. "Does light touch cluster policy work? Evaluating the tech city programme," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    9. Giulio Grossi & Marco Mariani & Alessandra Mattei & Patrizia Lattarulo & Ozge Oner, 2020. "Direct and spillover effects of a new tramway line on the commercial vitality of peripheral streets. A synthetic-control approach," Papers 2004.05027, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    10. Denti, Daria & Iammarino, Simona, 2022. "Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 334-352.
    11. David Gilchrist & Thomas Emery & Nuno Garoupa & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Synthetic Control Method: A tool for comparative case studies in economic history," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 409-445, April.
    12. Nadine McCloud, 2022. "Does domestic investment respond to inflation targeting? A synthetic control investigation," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 169, pages 98-134.
    13. Roy Cerqueti & Raffaella Coppier & Alessandro Girardi & Marco Ventura, 2022. "The sooner the better: lives saved by the lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. The case of Italy [Using synthetic controls: Feasibility, data requirements, and methodological aspects]," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 46-70.
    14. Kaul, Ashok & Klößner, Stefan & Pfeifer, Gregor & Schieler, Manuel, 2015. "Synthetic Control Methods: Never Use All Pre-Intervention Outcomes Together With Covariates," MPRA Paper 83790, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Amos Z. B. Flomo & Elissaios Papyrakis & Natascha Wagner, 2023. "Evaluating the economic effects of the Ebola virus disease in Liberia: A synthetic control approach," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1478-1504, August.
    16. Pamela J. Smith & Sebastian J. Anti, 2022. "How does TRIPs compliance affect the economic growth of developing countries? Application of the Synthetic Control method," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(12), pages 3873-3906, December.
    17. Nadine McCloud & Ajornie Taylor, 2022. "Does inflation targeting matter for international trade? A synthetic control analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2427-2478, November.
    18. Pier Basaglia & Sophie Behr & Moritz A. Drupp, 2023. "De-Fueling Externalities: How Tax Salience and Fuel Substitution Mediate Climate and Health Benefits," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2041, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Bibek Adhikari, 2022. "A Guide to Using the Synthetic Control Method to Quantify the Effects of Shocks, Policies, and Shocking Policies," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 67(1), pages 46-63, March.
    20. Juan S. Mora‐Sanguinetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Economic effects of recent experiences of federalism: Analysis of the regionalization process in Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 30-63, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Right-to-work; Labor unions; Union wage gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:44:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s12122-023-09341-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.