On this Labor Day, Perrspectives is offering a quick review of the increasing challenges to the living standards of American workers. Even as new reports show strong second quarter GDP growth and trumpet U.S. workers' world-leading productivity, two inescapable truths threaten their American Dream.
First, as I detailed in "Bush League Economy" almost two years ago, the crowing of conservatives aside, the American people aren't focused on economic growth; they're concerned about economic insecurity. Call it the Perrspectives "Insecurity Index." This sum of all fears is a 21st century version of the 1970's "misery index", which combined hitherto unprecedented inflation and unemployment rates to quantify economic suffering. Today, a much broader range of factors impact how Americans feel about their economic prospects. Combining data and trends for health insurance, pension coverage, personal debt, energy costs, mass layoffs, and most of all, wages, the Insecurity Index provides a much better window into Americans' simmering discontent with the economy. (Note that the housing market implosion and credit crunch were not factored into that 2005 accounting.) For more details, visit here.
The second fundamental truth for American workers is this: working conditions are worst in precisely those states that voted for George W. Bush for President. Pieces including "The Wages of Spin" and "The Minimum Wage in Red and Blue" detail how wages, union organizing, collective bargaining rights, unemployment rates and more are the most dismal in Red State America. As Thomas Frank suggests in What's the Matter with Kansas?, this is the ultimate triumph of the culture war over class interest.
For more details on the political geography of the GOP assault on American workers, see continue reading below the fold.

The Minimum Wage in Red and Blue
January 10, 2007
In Washington this week, the Democratic-controlled House takes on the first minimum wage increase since 1997. But while the federal government has blocked help for 13 million working Americans (9.8% of the workforce) for a decade, many states have already moved forward with their own minimum wage hikes. And as you might imagine, few of them happened to vote for George W. Bush for president.
As ThinkProgress detailed this week, a host of states have already implemented new wage baselines.

Unsurprisingly, many of the "bluest" states lead the way in exceeding both the current ($5.15 an hour) and proposed ($7.25) federal requirements, with Washington, Oregon, California, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut mandating wages as high as $7.93. Even less surprising, the right-to-work red states of the Republican heartland continue to hold down the living standards of millions of working Americans.

As I wrote in December 2005 ("The Wages of Spin"), this geographic pattern is familiar one. As a rule of thumb, George W. Bush has enjoyed his greatest support in precisely those states with the worst conditions for workers.
For the full story, continue reading "The Wages of Spin," below:
The Wages of Spin
December 9, 2005
As I wrote recently, the White House is increasingly frustrated by Americans' continued pessimism with the President's handling of the economy. Perhaps President Bush can find some solace that he seems to draw his greatest support in precisely those states where conditions are the worst for American workers.
That would appear to be the central finding in a report just released by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. The report, titled "Decent Work in America: The State-by State Work Environment Index 2005", offers an assessment of the best work environments in the United States. The top five states were Delaware, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Vermont and Iowa, the bottom five were South Carolina, Utah, Arkansas Texas and Louisiana. (For the full data tables, analysis and methodology, see the report's technical background paper.)

As a rule of thumb, if your state voted for George W. Bush, workers there don't have it very good. Four of the top 5 states voted for John Kerry for President; all 10 bottom dwellers are residents of President Bush's Red America.

Here's why. The Work Environment Index (WEI) rates the quality of Americans' working lives by a weighting of three factors: job opportunities, job quality, and job fairness. Job Opportunities includes the statewide unemployment rates, the duration of unemployment, and the percentage of "involuntary" part-timers. Job Quality refers to average wages (importantly, adjusted for the cost of living) and the proportion of workers receiving health and pension benefits. Job Fairness measures each state's percentage of low-wage workers (an indicator of income inequality), pay differential between men and women, minimum wage levels, collective bargaining rules and importantly, whether it is a "right to work" state. (So-called "right to work" states prohibit workers from being required to join a trade union as a condition of employment.)
The results contain some surprises at the top of the Work Environment Index. States like Delaware and New Hampshire feature low unemployment and good paying jobs after adjusting for the cost of living. Vermont is aided by its number one ranking in workplace fairness. While New England and Mid-Atlantic States generally rate in the top 20, reliable blue states such California, Oregon and New York are rated 33rd, 36th and 37th respectively. More than their unemployment rates (as with Oregon), New York and California drop in their rankings due to pronounced income inequality (think Wall Street and Silicon Valley).
There are no surprises among the worst performing states in the Work Environment Index. Virtually all below the Mason-Dixon line, the WEI laggards feature dismal pay and an outwardly hostile environment towards union organizing, workers' rights and collective bargaining. Red America is the home of the Right-to-Work (RTW) states. A leader in the Right-to-Work movement, Bush's home state of Texas was ranked 50th, with the percentage of workers with health and pension benefits running a full 10% below the top WEI performers.
For conservative commentators such as the National Review's Rich Lowry, these bastions of union-bashing should be lauded, not chided, and celebrated as the future of the American economy:

"Unencumbered by the legacy costs of the Big Three, free of the drag of unionization, highly flexible and efficient, Japanese and other, smaller foreign car companies are thriving in the South."

During a photo-op at a John Deere plant in North Carolina on Monday, President Bush claimed "this economy of ours is on the move." Not, apparently, for many American workers. And certainly not in any state that voted for George W. Bush.