Figure D

Right-to-work does not buy any advantage in creating jobs for state residents: Prime-age (25–54) employment as a share of population, by pre-2010 RTW, post-2010 RTW, and non-RTW states

Year Pre-2010 RTW Post-2010 RTW Non-RTW
1990 80.0% 78.6% 79.5%
1991 79.3% 77.1% 78.2%
1992 79.1% 77.8% 77.6%
1993 79.3% 79.3% 77.8%
1994 80.1% 79.9% 78.4%
1995 80.4% 80.4% 79.0%
1996 80.6% 81.1% 79.6%
1997 81.0% 81.7% 80.5%
1998 81.2% 81.6% 80.7%
1999 81.5% 82.1% 81.0%
2000 81.4% 82.0% 81.2%
2001 80.3% 80.9% 80.5%
2002 79.0% 79.5% 79.4%
2003 78.7% 78.7% 78.7%
2004 78.8% 78.6% 78.9%
2005 79.3% 79.1% 79.1%
2006 79.6% 78.7% 79.9%
2007 79.8% 78.5% 80.0%
2008 78.8% 77.6% 79.2%
2009 75.4% 73.6% 76.1%
2010 74.6% 73.4% 75.3%
2011 74.8% 74.3% 75.1%
2012 75.5% 75.1% 75.6%
2013 75.4% 75.5% 75.9%
2014 76.3% 76.3% 76.7%
2015 76.5% 77.1% 77.6%
2016 77.2% 78.4% 78.1%
2017 77.9% 79.0% 78.8%
2018 78.5% 80.2% 79.6%
2019 79.4% 79.9% 80.2%
2020 75.5% 76.0% 75.2%
2021 77.4% 77.7% 77.4%
2022 79.4% 79.0% 80.2%
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Note: Lines are weighted averages of three sets of states: those without RTW laws, those who have passed RTW laws since 2010, and all other RTW states.

Source: EPI analysis of Economic Policy Institute. 2023. Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.38, https://microdata.epi.org.

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