In January 2015, the Foundation began tracking announcements of job-creating investments listed on the website of Area Development, “considered the leading executive magazine covering corporate site selection and relocation.”
Three years into our analysis, the compelling correlation between RTW status and economic dynamism is as strong as ever. Of 569,241 jobs to be created, 433,033 — 76.1 percent — were announced for RTW states. Compulsory-unionism states have not won a single monthly contest in the race to expand employment. The 36 months have seen complete RTW victories in border-crossing projects and foreign direct investment as well. (See chart below.)
More work, of course, remains to be done with our data set. We will be examining the role tax burdens, energy (electricity and natural gas) costs, and workforce quality play. But after three years, it’s clear that RTW is strongly associated with economic development and job growth. New Mexico has nothing to lose — and much, the evidence shows, to gain — by passing a right-to-work law.
Today, I visited with a colleague from Salt Lake City. Utah is a right to work state. He said the number of new companies relocating to Utah is simply amazing. He has had to raise his wages because the unemployment rate is so low, he must compete for new hires. He was amazed that New Mexico is so different. He is expanding his company, and is already in two additional states, but he will only consider growing into a Right To Work state.