Your Opinion: Right to work means job opportunity

Dear Editor:

Right to work means more job opportunities for Missourians. Data shows, with slower growth, Missouri is ready to become a right-to-work state. Many businesses, particularly manufacturers competing in the global economy where it is difficult to pass along costs, will likely locate only in states that have tight to work. A good example is Missouri which during the 1980s and '90s used to be the No. 2 automobile manufacturer in the U.S. Since then not a single foreign automobile manufacturer has located in Missouri with most choosing states in the south with tight to work.

Why focus on manufacturing? Manufacturers normally provide better pay, benefits, and regular hours of work paying 21 percent more than the average pay of all U.S. private sector employers. Changing the employment mix of more manufacturing jobs can mean higher wages and an expanding middle class. Recently, Missouri has done a little better in job growth but a higher mix of lower paying jobs in the service sector still puts Missouri behind in wage growth.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Missouri was 48th in economic growth in real GDP between 1997 and 2015. Further, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Missouri had a lower job growth of 2.4 percent in Manufacturing from the recession of 2009 to 2015, compared to 4.1 percent for the U.S. and 3.3 percent for the nine states of Missouri and the eight surrounding states. Average weekly wages followed a similar pattern with Missouri manufacturing having a 15.6 percent increase during the same time period compared to 17.3 percent for the U.S., and 18.1 percent for Missouri and the eight surrounding states. Three states, including Missouri, are not right to work, with the other six states right to work.

While Right to Work is a key issue in providing greater job opportunity, a skilled workforce is also a continuing challenge. To fill the new high-tech jobs, we need to invest more in the training and education that will bring those needed higher skills. So in a highly competitive world we need both job opportunity and a highly skilled workforce to grow our economy. Missouri has many pluses. "Right to work" would be one more.

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