In an update to previous American Action Forum research, Labor Policy Analyst Emmet Bowling walks through the PRO Act’s major provisions and estimates the bill’s economic costs.

Key points:

• A bipartisan, pro-union bill called the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, seeks to strengthen labor unions and increase their leverage in collective bargaining negotiations by reclassifying independent contractors, broadening the joint employer standard, repealing right-to-work laws, and eliminating employers’ ability to replace striking workers.
• While the intent of the bill is to increase worker protections, many of the provisions ignore stated worker preferences and have the potential to harm the labor market through increased costs that small businesses, franchisees, and entrepreneurs likely cannot afford.
• This paper updates previous American Action Forum researchassessing the macroeconomic costs of the PRO Act and estimates that the bill could increase weekly employment costs by anywhere from $21.5–$71.6 billion and put up to $2.6 trillion of gross domestic product at risk.

Read the Analysis