half the share of the early 1970s. This reduction has limited the number of jobs with union wage and benefit premiums; weakened workers’ power to bargain for higher wages, more comprehensive benefits, and better working conditions; and limited the “spillover effect” wherein non-unionized firms raise wages and benefits to compete with unionized firms for workers. Together with other laissez-faire policies such as globalization, deregulation, and lower labor standards such as a lower minimum wage, deunionization has strengthened the hands of employers and undercut the ability of low- and middle-wage workers to have good jobs and economic security.

If we want the fruits of economic growth to benefit the vast majority, we will have to adopt a different set of goals for setting economic policy, as the ones in pla...

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