Industry Trends 2012 Issue 2 - 11

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency tracks the same data separately, and its House Price Index showed only a 3 percent increase nationally in the second quarter in home prices. Florida again leads the way in this list, with Mississippi and North Carolina barely increased from 2011. A different government agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), tracks various data about workers in each state. BLS confirms the stereotype of the South as being an anti-union region, where most states have laws restricting union organizing, and generally supporting businesses. Strong unions tend to lead to increased labor costs and can lead to workplace disruptions. Most Southern states have union membership rates far below the national average of 11.8% of the workforce. At 10%, Alabama is the only state approaching the national average, with Kentucky at 8.9%. The largest southern state, Florida, has 460,000 union members, but that only amounts to 6.3% of all workers. North Carolina has only 105,000 union members, less than 3% of the total workforce. Florida and Mississippi are the only states showing significant increases in union strength, up 17% in both states. South Carolina has seen a huge decline, with more than a quarter of union workers dropping off of the rolls in the past year. Boeing is building a new assembly line in South Carolina in part to avoid the unions in Washington State.

House Price Index (1991 = 100)
Region Alabama Florida Georgia Kentucky Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee All US 2nd Q 2012 79.18 80.37 52.41 90.71 74.57 78.38 78.89 85.36 85.48 % change vs. 2011 4.0 7.4 4.0 3.2 0.9 0.6 3.4 3.6 3.0

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency

Union Membership of Employed Wage and Salary Workers by State, (2010–2011)
2010 State Alabama Florida Georgia Kentucky Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee All US
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

2011 Total Members 178,000 460,000 153,000 150,000 54,000 105,000 59,000 115,000 14,764,000 Percent of Employed 10.0% 6.3% 3.9% 8.9% 5.0% 2.9% 3.4% 4.6% 11.8%

2010-2011 Net Change -5,000 68,000 0 3,000 8,000 -12,000 -21,000 0 49,000 Percent Change -2.7% 17.3% 0.0% 2.0% 17.4% -10.3% -26.3% 0.0% 0.3%

Total Members 183,000 392,000 153,000 147,000 46,000 117,000 80,000 115,000 14,715,000

Percent of Employed 10.1% 5.6% 4.0% 8.9% 4.5% 3.2% 4.6% 4.7% 11.9%

2012, Vol. 2 » INDUSTRY TRENDS

REPORT 8

Industry Trends 2012 Issue 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Industry Trends 2012 Issue 2