Ohio Labor Report Shows Weak Wages, Job Instability

Fox 8 News

If you had to work this Labor Day, be grateful you get the opportunity to labor – even if it’s for less money than you 
made three decades ago.

The 2011 State of Working Ohio Report by Policy Matters Ohio reports the Buckeye State has lost 594,000 jobs since
peak employment just over a decade ago.

The reports says the median hourly wage in Ohio in 1980 was the equivalent of $15.24 – in today’s dollars.

That’s more than today’s median Ohio income of $15.16.

One in every ten workers in the Buckeye State has lost at least one job since 2001, the report said.

“I was laid off. They were downsizing a major corporation, laid off for two days then picked up another one,” said
consultant Charlie Lerg.

While many Ohio industries have been a on a steady growth decline – one hasn’t – the medical field.

“I became a nurse about 20 years ago and that was probably the smartest move I ever made,” said a man heading to
the Indians game who identified himself as Jesse.

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