What are some of the interregional shifts in manufacturing in the United States?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: Manufacturing jobs have been shifting within the United States from the North and East to the South and West. Between 1950 and 2009, the North and East lost 6 million manufacturing jobs and the South and West gained 2 million. The principal site factor for many manufacturers was labor-related: enactment of right-to-work laws by a number of states, especially in the South. A right-to-work law requires a factory to maintain a so-called "open shop" and prohibits a "closed shop."

In a "closed shop," a company and a union agree that everyone must join the union to work in the factory. In an "open shop," on the other hand, a union and a company may not negotiate a contract that requires workers to join a union as a condition of employment. By enacting right-to-work laws, southern states made it much more difficult for unions to organize factory workers, collect dues, and bargain with employers from a position of strength. As a result, the percentage of workers who are members of a union is much lower in the South than elsewhere in the United States.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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