We all love surveys and rankings. From Family Feud to U.S. News School Rankings to American Idol – we love to know who is up, who is down, who is the best and who is the worst.
But some surveys and rankings just don’t add up. Last week, a group calling itself the Alliance for Worker Freedom, ranked each state on an Index of "worker freedom". (The group, according to its website, "was founded in 2004 to combat anti-worker, pro-union legislation and educate the public about the plight to protect workers rights.") It contends that the "2007 Index of Worker Freedom (IWF) is the first state-by-state comparative study that measures the level of worker freedom by analyzing actual policy as well as quantitative state data."
And how does Connecticut rank, according to the survey? Survey says: Dead last, with a letter grade of "F".
What does this mean? Beats me. I can’t make any sense out of it. For example, the state receives zero points because its minimum wage is above the federal minimum wage. Huh? Certainly, in Connecticut, where the cost of living is much higher — it hardly seems "anti-worker" to have the minimum wage be $7.65. And Ohio, which has a higher percentage of union workers than Connecticut, receives a "C+", so go figure.
And therein lies the tragedy with surveys like this. They do little to educate the public about the labor and employment facts of a particular state, relying only on an easy to remember "grade system".
(Hat Tip: Workplace Horizons)