There are more than 300,000 fewer
jobs
in
Michigan
today than 23 years ago, on March 9, 2000.
This fact is astounding. What is even more astounding is that Michigan was far short of the 2000 employment level even before the
COVID pandemic
, from which Michigan’s labor market still hasn’t fully recovered. In terms of cumulative job losses this century, Michigan is in a category of its own.
MAYBE IF DEMOCRATS STOPPED MAKING THINGS UP, THEY WOULDN’T BE SO SAD
I bring this up not to shame Michigan or because it has any particular effect on my life but to point out that the Democrats who now run Michigan’s legislature seem completely unconcerned about it. They
have just voted in the state House
to repeal the state’s 2012 Right to Work law. That law significantly improved Michigan’s business environment and helped former Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) add half a million jobs during his eight years in office. His predecessor,
Jennifer Granholm
, had presided over the loss of roughly the same number of jobs, with steady job losses coming in seven out of her eight years as governor. Granholm’s tenure is often referred to as Michigan’s “lost decade.”
Since Right to Work passed in 2012, giving workers a choice about union membership, a net of 41,000 government workers and 50,000 private sector workers dropped out of their respective unions. Those numbers represent membership declines of 13% and 16%, respectively.
In other words, Right to Work did not destroy unions in the state, but it did give a very large number of workers a chance to make their own decisions about union membership. This highlights the perfidy of what Democrats are doing right now. They are about to enrich a political special interest group aligned with their party at the expense of tens of thousands of people who do not want union membership or union representation in their workplaces.
Michigan still hasn’t recovered from its lost decade from 2000 to 2010. But Michigan Democrats can go beyond just a decade: They seem dead set on creating a lost century for their state.
I think this is all pretty good news for my home state of Indiana. It’s a right-to-work state, quite close by, and it already plays host to many auto manufacturers and their suppliers. As they have been doing for many years now, auto manufacturers will just continue to shift more and more of their operations to where the business climate is better. Some of them will choose Southern states, but why not go with a state that’s closer to home and has a way cooler nickname?
And although Michigan’s government workers will still be protected from compulsory union membership thanks to the Supreme Court’s Janus decision, collective bargaining agreements have proven to be
major obstacles to government functioning properly
. So this is also bad news for Michiganders who need to make a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles or otherwise interact with state and local bureaucracies.
Then again, a slower pace of driver’s license acquisition by Michigan residents might be a good thing — Michigan drivers and their blue license plates have quite a bad reputation where I come from.
