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( THE CONVERSATION ) When fewer people belong to unions and unions have less power, the impact goes beyond wages and job security . Those changes can hurt public health and make people more unhappy.

At a Glance:

Union membership boosts happiness among working-class Americans

Right-to-work laws weaken unions and job security

Opioid overdoses rose in states adopting right-to-work laws

Falling unionization tied to despair and poorer public health

We’re economists who research labor and health issues. Those are two of the main findings of studies that we have conducted.

More unionization, more happiness

In the first study on this topic that we published in 2023 , we found that increasing levels of union membership tends to make working-cla

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