The Biden administration would like to bring back unions. At their peak in the 1950s, about 33% of workers were union members, today it is barely more than 10%. The administration believes unions will be better for workers and the economy. And it blames the fall of unions for rising inequality. This is one reason why the Department of Labor recently came up with a plan to make gig workers employees, the first step in allowing them to unionize. But the rise in inequality is the result of structural changes to the economy that unions could not stop. And those changes are also why unions no longer work for workers or the economy. That's why union membership has also been declining in Europe, once a union stronghold.
Source: OECD
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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