Efforts to create local “right-to-work” zones would have negative impacts on workers and the economy in Illinois. The preponderance of evidence finds that worker incomes are lower in economies with right-to-work laws and that employment effects are minimal at best. For instance, average worker wages are $2.90 per hour (13 percent) higher in Illinois than in right-to-work Indiana and Illinois added 14,000 more jobs in 2014. At the same time, the unemployment rate in eastern Illinois counties was lower than in right-to-work counties across the Indiana border in December 2014.
The proposal for local right-to-work zones is based on the assumption that high union density hampers local economies. An analysis of the 102 counties in Illinois, however, reveals that this presupposition is unfounded. Higher county-level unionization rates within Illinois have no discernible impact on employment growth, establishment openings growth, and average household income growth. The evidence that unionization raises the unemployment rate in Illinois is also weak. The claim that right-to-work is an effective way to put people to work is not supported by the evidence.