Mackinac Center research was used to inform two Wall Street Journal articles in as many weeks.

The first article, announcing West Virginia’s move to become the nation’s 26th right-to-work state, cites Mackinac Center research showing that worker freedom has a positive impact on jobs and income.

Right to work isn’t a panacea, but it can help. Michigan adopted right to work in 2012, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports that state incomes have since risen faster than the national average and state job growth is the 16th best. The auto comeback explains some of that progress, but many U.S. and foreign companies won’t even consider locating a plant in a state without a right-to-work statute.

The second Journal article also concerns the decision by West Virginia to afford workers the freedom to choose whether or not they belong to a union, and the debate in Kentucky to follow suit. It also references Mackinac Center research that dispels the myth that workers in non-right-to-work states have higher incomes.

Democrats point to higher incomes in union states as proof that “right to work” really means “right to work for less.” Yet those states, concentrated in the Northeast and on the West Coast, are among the most expensive places to live. A 2013 analysis by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy adjusted for the cost of living and found that per capita personal incomes in right-to-work states were actually 4.1% higher than in union states.

Read the complete article about West Virginia becoming right to work.

Read the complete Wall Street Journal article about West Virginia and Kentucky.

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