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More "Takers" Than "Makers"
Grant R. Gulibon
Another Labor Day is upon us, but the organized labor union movement in
Pennsylvania has very little to celebrate this year. Union membership
in the private sector continues its decades long free-fall, and the
bottom is now in sight. At the same time unionized jobs are leaving the
Commonwealth, fewer remaining workers are convinced of their need to
embrace union representation.
But not all the news is bad for Pennsylvania's labor unions-at least for
those in the government sector. Recently, the Pennsylvania
Manufacturers' Association (PMA) announced that the Commonwealth-a
once-upon-a-time powerhouse of manufacturing-has more Pennsylvanians
working today for the government than are employed in the Keystone
State's private manufacturing sector. It is this growth of government
jobs that has been a boon for labor unions.
"The continuing expansion of government in the face of stagnant growth
in the commonwealth's over-taxed, over-regulated, lawsuit-riddled
private sector will leave Pennsylvania with more 'takers'-whose salaries
are paid by the taxpayers-than 'makers' who add value to the economy by
manufacturing products," said Jim Panyard, president of the PMA. "That
is an unhealthy trend for Pennsylvania's well-being, and ultimately an
unsustainable one."
Although overall union membership has been in a steady decline for
decades, government-sector union membership has experienced significant
growth in Pennsylvania. Between 1983 and 2002, the number of
government-sector union members increased by 6.3 percent, while
private-sector union membership fell by 45.9 percent. As the
percentage of unionized private-sector workers decreased from 23.2
percent to just 10 percent-a 56.9 percent decrease in less than two
decades-the percentage of unionized government workers rose from 51.4
percent in 1983 to 55.3 percent in 2002.
Within the private sectors of construction and manufacturing-two of the
most prominent segments of the organized labor movement-unions
experienced a dramatic erosion of their membership and unionization
rates. Construction union membership in Pennsylvania fell by 6.4
percent between 1983 and 2002, while more than two-thirds (66.9 percent)
of manufacturing union membership-305,200 workers-simultaneously
disappeared.
Although private-sector unions (such as the UAW and the USWA) and
government-sector unions (such as the AFSCME and the PSEA) have
consistently presented a united front on most matters political, the
increase in "takers" and decrease in "makers" is gravely bad news for
private-sector labor unions. The loss of family sustaining
private-sector jobs in Pennsylvania has devastated private-sector union
membership.
But it is this steadily rising and disproportionate power of
government-sector unions that is perhaps the greatest threat faced by
private-sector unions and their remaining members. Indeed, the economic
and fiscal consequences of this shift are potentially devastating for
all taxpaying Pennsylvanians.
In 2002, Pennsylvania government-sector workers had a unionization rate
453 percent higher than their private-sector counterparts-and that
unionization rate was 46.3 percent above the national rate for
government employees. It is clear that in Pennsylvania, the state's
"makers"-the tax generators remaining in the Commonwealth-are
increasingly being forced to support an ever-growing number of
"takers"-the heavily unionized and politically powerful
government-sector tax consumers.
The gains made by government-sector unions have been at the expense of
many private-sector union members who lost their jobs in Pennsylvania's
inhospitable business climate. Dollars that would otherwise have been
invested to create or retain jobs for private-sector workers-unionized
or not-have been siphoned off to maintain ever-growing government jobs.
Eventually, the more-takers-than-makers trend will end in an economic
and political disaster. However, the coming crisis could be averted if
policymakers dramatically curtail their taxing and spending habits.
Only when politicians recognize that sustained economic growth occurs
when the "makers" far outnumber the "takers"-and that government doesn't
create economically productive jobs-will Pennsylvania pull itself out of
the economic doldrums.
Private-sector unions must also recognize that the rapid growth of
government ultimately threatens their future in Pennsylvania. If
only for their own survival, private-sector unions must begin opposing
their government-sector counterparts that effectively cannibalize the
paychecks of non-government union workers. They should view the
lobbying efforts for higher taxes by government-sector unions like the
PSEA or AFSCME as a truly hostile action toward the private-sector union
members they have promised to protect.
If Pennsylvania continues to increase the number of "takers" while
driving out the "makers," Labor Day just won't be the same when there
are no taxpayers or private-sector union members around to take the day
off and celebrate.
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Grant R. Gulibon is senior policy analyst at The Commonwealth
Foundation, a free-market public policy research and educational
institute based in Harrisburg. For more information, visit
www.CommonwealthFoundation.org.
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