It’s not exactly news, but labor unions are struggling badly in today’s modern economy. Widespread gains in workplace protections and the precarious situation of many union pension plans have rendered unions far less important and far less attractive to American workers. So has the union practice of making unreasonable demands that destroy the host organisms — witness, for example, what has happened to the American automotive and steel industries. The lack of interest in unions among many modern workers has reduced union membership to long-time lows. For 93 percent of employees in the nation’s productive private sector, unions are completely irrelevant. Despite President Obama’s best efforts to change the rules in their favor, they continue to lose ground.

The strongest remaining argument that labor unions are relevant or desirable is that they provide business with a better-trained and more knowledgeable work force. But as quaint as it is to think of organized labor as the guardian of know-how and quality, it just isn’t so, according to a new CNBC ranking of “America’s top states for business.” The survey, which considered the work forces of all 50 states, found that the downsides of unionism far outweigh any advantages when it comes to work force quality.