Organized Labor made gains in the post war years in spite of the Taft-Hartley act and the 1945 UAW strike because, Imprimus there was no war damage to the US economy to rebuild, ergo the US dominated the global economy. Secundus, the GI bill eased post war unemployment, and stimulated growth in education, and Tertius, retooling from a war footing was facilitated by the impetus of new technologies and industries developed from wartime research.

The gains made were wage increases tied to productivity increases and cost of living adjustments in 1948 and pension benefits from the treaty of Detroit in 1950.

The end of the war lifted the lid on strikes and as a result strikes and labor demands increased as gas under pressure seeks to equalize a la Boyle. Pressure released involves a return to fill the resulting vacuum until pressure is equalized in a uniform manner.. This equalization came in the form of public resentment of brownouts resulting from mine worker strikes reducing the country’s coal supply and the passage of the Taft-Hartley act. The gains of labor were not so much despite the Taft-Hartley act as the result of the pendulum coming to rest after the extreme swings of the 1945 UAW strikes against GM and the Taft-Hartley act

There had been no aerial bombardment or groung fighting in the continental United States during WWII. Unlike Europe, no factories needed to be rebuilt. Factory workers need not replace casualties. There were more than enough returning veterans to fill vacancies to keep the economy moving. Only minor adjustments such as retooling from building tanks to building cars or from fighter aircraft to passenger airliners were necessary. The American economy had elbow room free from competition, while European economies had to be rebuilt nearly from scratch.

The returning veterans were funnelled into higher education by the GI bill. Thereby relieving any unemployment pressure on the economy. Far from it, college facilities were expanded, creating new job opportunities in teaching and the construction of these facilities.

New technologies were implemented more easily due to the change over from wartime to a peacetime footing. Oil and natural gas replaced coal as the country’s main energy source. A whole new plastics industry was built. Wartime research and development revamped the civilian air travel industry.