What is wrong with Right to Work (RTW)? “Right to work” (RTW) laws enable “free riders”: Employees in unionized workplaces who refuse to pay union dues while enjoying the union-won wages, benefits, and protections those dues help secure. Research on RTW laws has consistently found that allowing free riders shrinks
Part 3 of our 2026 State of Working Ohio report. < Part 2: Median Wage || Part 4: Childcare > Workers and businesses alike have an interest in strengthening Ohio’s unemployment compensation (UC) system. When properly funded and adequately staffed, the UC system allows jobless Ohioans to find jobs that
Part 4 of our 2026 State of Working Ohio report. < Part 3: Unemployment Compensation || Part 5: Paid Family Medical Leave > Childcare is vital infrastructure. It allows parents to participate in the workforce and higher education, supports healthy child development, and enables employers to recruit and train workers.
Part 5 of our 2026 State of Working Ohio report. < Part 4: Childcare At some point in their career, every Ohio worker will need paid family and/or medical leave (PFML), but only a small percentage of Ohio workers have access to PFML programs. PFML refers to a range of
Part 1 of our 2026 State of Working Ohio report. Part 2: Median Wage > Less than 90 years ago, after years of effort from workers, unions, civil rights activists, and President Franklin Roosevelt, workers received a guaranteed minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).[1] In a speech
Part 2 of our 2026 State of Working Ohio report. < Part 1: Minimum Wage || Part 3: Unemployment Compensation > The median wage is in the exact middle of the pay scale: Half of all workers are paid more, and half are paid less. It’s commonly considered the wage
Policy choices hamstring Ohio’s only need-based financial aid program Ohio’s only need-based financial aid program falls short of its potential because state policymakers created rules that reduce aid for many low-income students and fail to account for the true cost of attending college. A new Policy Matters Ohio brief finds
College is too expensive for too many Ohioans. The costs include tuition, fees, room and board — and the short-term income forgone in hopes that a degree will pay off in the long run. If high costs make college prohibitive, it’s not just the individual who misses out because the
On May 22, 2026, Policy Matters Ohio teamed up with CHIPS Communities United to host “Reimagining the Silicon Heartland,” a one day conference analyzing the impacts and intersections of data centers and Intel’s projects in Ohio. It’s no secret that big tech is changing the landscape of Ohio—literally and figuratively.
On June 15, 2026 Governor DeWine signed into law the 136th General Assembly’s capital budget, funding $3.7 billion in projects across Ohio’s 88 counties, including $600 million for school building assistance, $510 million for local infrastructure projects, and $346.5 million for improvements at behavioral health facilities. Ohio’s capital budget funds
Gov. DeWine stopped payments 10 weeks before they were set to expire The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, May 20th pertaining to an ongoing class action suit against Gov. DeWine for ending federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic early. “This case is important to all
Intel took our money, but hasn’t delivered on childcare promises
This piece was originally published in the Columbus Dispatch on August 4, 2026. Then-President Joe Biden on August 9, 2022, signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law, creating a $280 billion investment in semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States. Intel had committed to investing in Ohio about six months earlier, and the investment from the CHIPS and Science Act