Top 10 US states for high wages, salaries, strong worker rights

Other top states include California, Oregon and New York – all ranked first for enshrining workers’ right to organize in law. At the bottom of the list are Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina; according to Oxfam, these states have consistently ranked lowest in the organization’s annual index over the past few years.

This comes as the South — and the broader Sunbelt — has become a new economic center. As the cost of living, including housing, rose exponentially in many of the country’s traditional cities with economic power, many workers moved south. Sunbelt metros like Gainesville, Ga., and Hilton Head Island in South Carolina are leading the nation in job creation, according to a recent analysis by the Economic Innovation Group.

But while many remote workers have benefited from a lower cost of living in the South, multi-tasking workers may not benefit as much.

“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that remote work is a privilege that only certain workers can enjoy. Our index focuses on policies that would most benefit low-wage workers, many of whom do not receive employer benefits such as paid sick or family. leave — much less the ability to work remotely,” Dr. Kaitlyn Henderson, report author and senior researcher at Oxfam America, told Business Insider.

The Oxfam report looks at three dimensions of what makes a state worker-friendly: wages, worker protection and the right to organize. Salaries are weighted the most out of these three categories; Key policies tracked in this dimension include the ratio of the state minimum wage to the wage needed to support a four-person household, the same ratio for unemployment payments, and whether the state lets its localities have control over raising the minimum wage.

The protection of workers represents 35% of the score; Key policies included in the ranking include equal pay mandates that address the gender pay gap, paid medical and family leave, child labor protections, quota caps for warehouse workers and heat safety standards.

And finally, the right to organize accounts for 25% of the total composite score. Key policies Oxfam is tracking there include whether states have right-to-work laws that allow workers to opt out of unions but still benefit from their contracts, whether teachers are able to organize and whether the state has laws that protect workers from retaliation the employer.

The right to organize has been particularly controversial in the South in recent years. Republican governors in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee have all passed laws barring state incentives for companies that voluntarily recognize unions.

The GOP governors of South Carolina, Texas and Mississippi joined the aforementioned states in issuing a statement slamming the United Auto Workers’ campaign to organize southern auto plant workers.

Oxfam gave Texas, South Carolina and Georgia a score of zero out of 100 for organizing rights, while Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama received a score of 10.