The growing auto manufacturing industry in the South offers a powerful opportunity to bring good jobs to the region. But as these jobs shift from the Midwest to the South, we see a decline in job quality in the sector. Why? The prevailing Southern economic development model disempowers workers, and as a result auto workers in the South:Are paid less than their counterparts in other regions, even when their income is adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living;Report high levels of illness, injury, and even death, amid eroding worker safety protections;Face anti-union hostility from policymakers and employers, including in the forms of right-to-work laws and union-busting activities.
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Table of Contents
- Southern economic policies undermine job quality for auto workers Rooted in Racism and Economic Exploitation: Spotlight 1
- Will the South become the new heart of auto production? 1
- As auto manufacturing jobs decline across the Midwest, they are rising in the South Auto manufacturing jobs by region 2001, 2019, and 2022 3
- Half of the top 10 auto manufacturing states are in the South Ten states with the largest numbers of auto manufacturing jobs, 2022 4
- As jobs move South, job quality falls 4
- Median annual wages and wages at the 25th percentile for motor vehicle parts manufacturing and motor vehicle manufacturing workers, 2022 5
- Median annual earnings and cost-of-living adjusted earnings for motor vehicle parts manufacturing workers, 2022 6
- Change in median earnings between 2012 and 2022 in 2022 dollars 7
- Southern workers face unsafe workplaces 7
- The decline in job quality is possible thanks to the lack of unions across the South 8
- The South is the only region with continuously declining union coverage rates Unionization rates by region 2010, 2019, and 2022 9
- Conclusion 10
- Notes 10
- References 11
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