The Northeast region—including Maine—leads the United States in outbound migration, according to the results of United Van Lines’ 36th annual “migration” study, which tracks which states the company’s customers move to and from during the course of the year.
Washington, D.C., continues to lead the nation in inbound moves based on the study findings, which analyzed moves from the full year 2012.
The Top Five outbound states for 2012 were: New Jersey, Illinois, West Virginia, New York and New Mexico, but Maine ranks in the Top Ten.
New Jersey (62 percent) displaced the outbound leader from last year, Illinois (60 percent), reclaiming the top spot for high-outbound migration that it held in 2010.
The Northeast is the most well-represented region on the high-outbound traffic list. In addition to New Jersey, New York (58 percent), Maine (56 percent) and Connecticut (56 percent) are also included.
Michigan (58 percent) and Wisconsin (55 percent) along with Illinois represented the Great Lakes region. Michigan fell to the No. 6 from the No. 4 spot it held in 2011. Previously, it had claimed the top outbound spot every year from 2006-2009.
Kentucky (55 percent) joined West Virginia (58 percent) as the only Southern states to appear on the high outbound list. New Mexico (58 percent) was the only Western state to appear on the list.
New Hampshire was one of several states that gained approximately the same number of residents as those that left. Other states include Louisiana, Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota and Maryland.
According to an article on RedState.com, “Unchanged: Americans Are Still Fleeing High-Tax, Forced-Unionism States With Good Reason,” the Top Ten states with the highest outbound traffic in UVL’s study are forced-unionism states.
The fact that forced-union states have been losing taxpayers shouldn’t come as a surprise. The trend has been occurring for decades. Year after year, taxpayers are merely moving to where there is a more favorable climate—both literally and figuratively.
Typically, where there are laws giving union bosses the power to force workers to pay unions or be fired, union bosses also have the power to get politicians elected that will raise taxes and enact legislation that make the state unattractive to running a business.
As a result, when businesses find a state hostile to business, they either close or move, leaving fewer jobs in the state.
Naturally, like nomads, when there is no food (or work) to hunt for, people follow the jobs or end up dependent on the nanny state, which then imposes a greater burden on the remaining producers—individuals and business alike.
For an example on how union dominance can destroy a state, one need to look no further than New Jersey, the epitome of a state controlled by unions. Despite GOP Governor Chris Christie, the relationship between union bosses and New Jersey’s Democrat politicians is tight.
As an example, State Senate President Steve Sweeney is a union representative, and Christie’s predecessor, disgraced one-percenter Jon Corzine, had a very public relationship with the president of the state’s largest public-sector union that raised numerous questions during his administration.
Now, with the nation’s fourth-largest debt among the states ($282 billion in the hole), life for New Jersey’s taxpayers is expensive to say the least—and it does not look like that fact will change anytime soon.
As the nation’s most densely populated state, New Jersey taxpayers are saddled with the highest property taxes in the nation. The Garden State is also rated among the highest business-tax states and falls to within the top ten of states that impose the highest tax burden overall.
Conversely, Right-to-Work South Carolina imposes the least amount of tax burden on its residents.
In fact, according to USA Today, the states with the highest tax burdens are all forced unionism states: Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.
Although several of these states have elected Republican governors in recent years and Michigan will soon be a Right-to-Work state, several are still (or, until recently) controlled by Democrat legislatures. As a result, merely having Republicans in control is not enough to reverse the decades of the Big Government policies, high taxes and deficits brought about by union influence.
In New Jersey’s case, for example, while moderate Republican Chris Christie has done reasonably well to balance budgets, New Jersey still overburdens taxpayers and businesses.
In fact, while it has risen from the 50th worst place in the nation to do business to 49th, it is only because New York has dropped to 50th.
As noted Bloomberg [the publication, not the mayor] noted:
[Christie’s] reductions in aid to schools and local governments, combined with cuts to property tax rebate programs, have pushed up the average property-tax bill by 20 percent from 2009, according to state data. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation at an average of $7,759 in 2011, and residents making as much as $200,000 pay more in real estate levies than income taxes, according to legislative budget analysts.
Given that the best workers are to be found in Right-to-Work states, according to one survey, the fact that so many are fleeing the cold nanny states of the North to move to warmer Right-to-Work states, poses danger for those states on the receiving end of the exodus.
The danger for Right-to-Work natives, as well as the economic well-being for the Right-to-Work states receiving those fleeing forced-unionism states, is that the forced-unionism immigrants bring with them the same bad economic policies of their former home states.
The Art of Union-Bashing: Making Stuff Up.
Let’s see… apples are round and oranges are round, therefore apples are oranges?
This article from The Maine Wire (based on an even more non-sensical article appearing on RedState.com) is the sort of conclusion looking for statistical support that drives me crazy. There is absolutely nothing in the United Van Lines report that even implies a union/non-union correlation with the reasons Americans move.
More to the point, UVL has not conducted a “study.” This is simply a report by a single moving company of the numbers of moves it conducted this year. UVL doesn’t examine the motivations of it’s customers, nor do its guesses as to why its customers moved have any significance.
You don’t like unions? Fine. But have the integrity to make your case with valid points, not MooseScat.
Mr. Johnson – and why don’t you come up with some “valid points” to counter the claim. Where are your “valid points” to counter an obvious fact unions are a big factor why Maine is well on its way to self-destruction. I’m waiting……still waiting…….still waiting.
Glenn, an argument with no basis isn’t really entitled to be “countered.” If I claim that because the Republican Party lost it’s control of the legislature that that is evidence that Conservative values are being abandoned by Mainers would you feel the need to present evidence to the contrary? Of course not. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
An curious point that the original RedState makes (one ignored by Maine Wire in their re-write) is the fear that liberals moving from union to non-union states will bring their progressive philosophies with them and threaten the anti-union strongholds of the south.
Interesting.
Maybe the Wire should ad a warning to solid fact-based information such as this article. Something like: “Warning, contains unbiased facts, based on solid statistical information. Progressives beware, such facts have been known to blow small minds.”
Which solid facts do you mean? Moving statistics or the reasons for the moves? The former are undisputed while the latter are pure fabrication. This isn’t about Progressives or Conservatives. It’s about credible reporting vs. blatant unsupported editorialism.
Here is some interesting data but still a HUGE stretch to just assume it’s related to UNION’s. What about folks retiring to warmer places, college students, etc.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/12/17/u-s-migration-flows/
Oozing crap like that is the reason you people can’t win an election in this State!