Keystone Today

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate continues to surge as the state battles an ongoing economic crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a negative financial picture in comparison to states that have recently implemented a right-to-work law.

A right-to-work law prohibits a company and a union from signing a contact that would require the affected workers to be union members. This type of law has been implemented in over half of U.S. states.

The difference between states was noted in a recent opinion piece written by the Observer-Reporter's Colin McNickle, in which the communications and marketing director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy states that the passing of right-to-work legislation has proved to be effective in the economic recovery of states that have implemented it.

The study highlighted in the piece indicated that adding high levels of public-sector unionization to the mix is a lethal combination for a tanking business market. For instance, from June 2019 to July 2021, states in that category saw a 6.1% rate of private job loss. Right-to-work states, however, only saw a 0.3% job loss.

McNickle pointed out that Pennsylvania was "outperformed by every RTW state," in his op-ed.

The most recent unemployment measurement reports identify Pennsylvania's unemployment rate to be 6.6%, well above the national average, according to Keystone Today. The financial hardship Pennsylvania faces was made evident in a recent WFMZ report on the 2021 U.S. Prosperity Index, which ranks Pennsylvania 45th (out of 50 states) for economic quality.

On the contrary, states that have enacted a right-to-work law have seen significant gains between June 2019 and June 2021, such as Idaho at 4.6%, Utah at 3.9% and Arizona at 1%. The study determines the ranking through "11 categories that address infrastructure, living conditions, health, and business conditions." 

“Pennsylvania was outperformed by every RTW state, even trailing Indiana, which had the weakest numbers in the RTW group,” President Emeritus/Senior Advisor at Allegheny Institute for Public Policy Jake Haulk said, according to the Observer-Reporter. “However, it was much better than New York and was comparable to other non-western NRTW (non-right-to-work) states."

Despite the financial crisis, Pennsylvania has made advancements by decreasing its commonwealth civilian labor force by 16,000, despite recording the fifth spike in unemployment rates in the last six months. Non-farm jobs increased by 28,8000 to 5,731,800 last month, according to Pennsylvania Pressroom. The largest comeback was reported by the leisure and hospitality industry, which saw a gain of 16,200 jobs within the last year.

“With the delta variant of coronavirus spreading rapidly across the country, state economies are about to get another test,” Haulk told the Observer-Reporter.