Good union jobs allow workers to earn better wages and benefits like health care and retirement security. Good union jobs help women earn equal pay. And in areas and industries where unions are strong, all workers’ wages are higher because union jobs raise the standard, as we recently learned in a report by the Economic Policy Institute.

The report, “Union Decline Lowers Wages of Nonunion Workers,” confirms what we’ve always said. And unfortunately, the opposite is true too: When union membership declines, so do the wages of all workers. Those particularly hard hit are nonunion men with a high school diploma or less. Their “weekly wages would be an estimated 9 percent ($61) higher if union density remained at its 1979 levels,” according to EPI. “For a year-round worker, this translates to an annual wage loss of about $3,172.” That’s real money — enough to pay more than three month’s average rent.

Union jobs provide other benefits that allow working families to reach the middle class — retirement plans, paid family and sick leave, and high-quality health insurance. Unions also close the inequality gap and increase the middle-class share of the nation’s total income. That’s why it’s important to strengthen laws that make it easier for workers to join unions.

We need leaders who understand all this. Hillary Clinton, AFSCME’s endorsed candidate for President, has proudly declared that “when unions are strong, America is strong!” As a senator from New York, Clinton was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have made it easier for working people to organize together in unions. Clinton supports raising the minimum wage, protecting workers from exploitation and wage theft, and strengthening bargaining rights. Clinton knows that unions helped build the middle class before and are key to making America great again.