Table I.

Mean (SD) of three-year moving average state-level variables, as well as state-level mortality rates, in 1985 (top) and 2015 (bottom) across year-specific union-density quartiles.^a

			Quartile 1	Quartile 2	Quartile 3	Quartile 4
1985	Age	% 25–34 years old	0.35 (0.02)	0.36 (0.02)	0.35 (0.02)	0.35 (0.03)
		% 35–44 years old	0.27 (0.01)	0.26 (0.01)	0.26 (0.01)	0.27 (0.01)
		% 45–54 years old	0.19 (0.01)	0.19 (0.01)	0.19 (0.01)	0.19 (0.01)
		% 55–64 years old	0.19 (0.02)	0.18 (0.02)	0.19 (0.01)	0.19 (0.03)
Gender		% women	0.51 (0.01)	0.51 (0.01)	0.51 (0.01)	0.51 (0.01)
Race		% white	0.79 (0.11)	0.89 (0.08)	0.83 (0.20)	0.84 (0.17)
		% Black	0.11 (0.10)	0.07 (0.09)	0.11 (0.19)	0.06 (0.04)
		% other	0.09 (0.12)	0.04 (0.03)	0.06 (0.07)	0.10 (0.18)
Education		% < HS	0.23 (0.06)	0.19 (0.08)	0.18 (0.03)	0.18 (0.06)
		% HS	0.36 (0.02)	0.39 (0.03)	0.38 (0.06)	0.41 (0.04)
		% some college	0.21 (0.04)	0.22 (0.05)	0.20 (0.04)	0.20 (0.05)
		% college	0.20 (0.03)	0.20 (0.04)	0.24 (0.05)	0.21 (0.04)
Econ. conditions		% unemployed	0.06 (0.01)	0.06 (0.02)	0.06 (0.01)	0.08 (0.02)
		GDP per capita ($10k)b	3.40 (0.44)	3.71 (0.78)	4.28 (1.84)	4.26 (2.13)
		Mean wage ($)b	19.26 (1.82)	19.47 (1.85)	21.16 (2.31)	22.02 (3.00)
Ind. structure		% agriculture	0.04 (0.02)	0.06 (0.05)	0.03 (0.03)	0.03 (0.02)
		% services	0.75 (0.06)	0.75 (0.04)	0.77 (0.09)	0.75 (0.07)
		% manufacturing	0.21 (0.07)	0.19 (0.06)	0.20 (0.09)	0.22 (0.08)
		% public sector	0.18 (0.04)	0.18 (0.02)	0.19 (0.07)	0.18 (0.04)
Policies		State - federal MW ($)c	0.00 (0.00)	0.00 (0.00)	0.08 (0.27)	0.09 (0.33)
		AFDC/TANF:povertyd	0.40 (0.13)	0.48 (0.14)	0.73 (0.28)	0.72 (0.16)
		UI recipiency ratee	0.21 (0.04)	0.27 (0.08)	0.31 (0.06)	0.31 (0.09)
Mortality		All-cause per 100k	441.75 (60.04)	405.08 (79.40)	447.53 (91.65)	416.24 (70.89)
		Despair per 100k	20.27 (3.00)	18.74 (3.84)	18.73 (6.21)	16.86 (3.85)
2015	Age	% 25–34 years old	0.27 (0.02)	0.27 (0.04)	0.24 (0.02)	0.26 (0.02)
		% 35–44 years old	0.25 (0.01)	0.24 (0.01)	0.23 (0.01)	0.24 (0.01)
		% 45–54 years old	0.25 (0.01)	0.25 (0.02)	0.27 (0.01)	0.26 (0.01)
		% 55–64 years old	0.23 (0.02)	0.24 (0.02)	0.27 (0.02)	0.24 (0.01)
Gender		% women	0.51 (0.01)	0.50 (0.01)	0.50 (0.01)	0.50 (0.01)
Race		% white	0.67 (0.13)	0.70 (0.16)	0.84 (0.12)	0.63 (0.18)
		% Black	0.16 (0.12)	0.12 (0.12)	0.07 (0.08)	0.08 (0.05)
		% other	0.17 (0.12)	0.18 (0.13)	0.08 (0.05)	0.29 (0.19)
Education		% < HS	0.10 (0.03)	0.07 (0.02)	0.06 (0.02)	0.07 (0.02)
		% HS	0.31 (0.04)	0.30 (0.05)	0.33 (0.05)	0.28 (0.03)
		% some college	0.29 (0.03)	0.29 (0.06)	0.27 (0.04)	0.29 (0.04)
		% college	0.30 (0.04)	0.34 (0.10)	0.34 (0.07)	0.36 (0.05)
Econ. conditions		% unemployed	0.05 (0.01)	0.05 (0.01)	0.04 (0.01)	0.06 (0.01)
		GDP per capita ($10k)b	4.90 (0.76)	6.66 (3.71)	5.26 (0.87)	6.13 (0.96)
		Mean wage ($)b	22.54 (2.18)	23.95 (3.48)	23.94 (2.75)	25.73 (1.98)
Ind. structure		% agriculture	0.02 (0.02)	0.02 (0.02)	0.02 (0.02)	0.01 (0.01)
		% services	0.86 (0.03)	0.86 (0.06)	0.85 (0.05)	0.88 (0.05)
		% manufacturing	0.12 (0.02)	0.11 (0.05)	0.13 (0.04)	0.11 (0.05)
		% public sector	0.16 (0.02)	0.18 (0.05)	0.16 (0.03)	0.15 (0.04)
Policies		State - federal MW ($)c	0.09 (0.23)	0.39 (0.62)	0.42 (0.53)	1.10 (0.54)
		AFDC/TANF:povertyd	0.10 (0.07)	0.22 (0.24)	0.27 (0.10)	0.33 (0.14)
		UI recipiency ratee	0.16 (0.04)	0.22 (0.08)	0.28 (0.07)	0.29 (0.07)
Mortality		All-cause per 100k	437.23 (96.55)	433.29 (73.54)	425.74 (91.85)	349.85 (46.77)
		Despair per 100k	45.32 (10.51)	48.10 (11.41)	57.92 (15.29)	44.04 (11.07)

Notes:

^aQuartile ranges: 1985: 7.3–16.9%, 16.9–23.6%, 25.6–29.0%, 30.2–39.5%; 2015: 3.9–7.4%, 8.2–12.6%, 12.8–16.5%, 16.9–28.0%.

^b2017 dollars.

^bMW is the minimum wage.

^cProportion of families receiving AFDC/TANF benefits out of all impoverished families with children.

^dShare of unemployed workers receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from regular state programs.