Ohio employers gained 10,400 jobs in June. This is a return to trend, following job losses in May. Statewide unemployment remained unchanged at 4.9%, 0.8 percentage points higher than the national rate in June. At the same time, inflation ticked up for the second month in a row after falling
Ohio employers added 22,200 jobs in April, following reported gains in March. Statewide unemployment increased for the fifth consecutive month to 4.9%, while the U.S. unemployment rate remains steady at 4.2%. Ohio’s increasing unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation, up 0.9 percentage points since April of 2024
Good morning, Chair Huffman, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Liston and members of the committee. My name is Heather Smith, and I am a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on House Bill 96. I am here today to
CIVICC was a commonsense workforce development tool The consequences of a criminal conviction can extend long beyond the sentence imposed by a judge. Hundreds of “collateral sanctions” restrict the kinds of jobs an Ohioan can hold if they have a record.[1] To make matters worse, it is hard to know
Every employer should pay every employee at least enough to cover the basics. In Ohio, too many employers get away with paying a lot less: Eight of the 10 most common occupations[1] in the state paid their median worker less than what’s required to afford the basic cost-of-living for an
“Ohio’s childcare crisis” was originally published in March 2024. The 2025 version updates data but is otherwise unchanged, except where additions are highlighted. Childcare should be a top priority for Ohio policymakers. A recent poll[1] found that for Gen-Z workers, childcare benefits are ranked more important than even health insurance
Hearings for the Governor’s proposed budget just finished in the Children and Human Services Committee, and Policy Matters testified on the Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC) system in the state. Broadly, this budget proposal is strong and includes important measures to address the childcare crisis in the state, including: In
The takeaway: Benchmark data shows that Ohioans were right in their frustration with the labor market this past year. While Ohio has fully recovered the number of jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, job growth has remained relatively stagnant. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in January, and we can
Testimony to the House Children and Human Services Committee on H.B. 96 Good morning, Chair White, Vice-chair Salvo, Ranking Member Lett and members of the committee. My name is Heather Smith and I am a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. Thank you for the opportunity
Testimony to the Senate Workforce Development Committee on S.B. 50 Good morning Chair Koehler, Vice Chair Reynolds, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the committee. My name is Heather Smith and I am a researcher with Policy Matters Ohio, a non-partisan nonprofit think tank. Thank you for the opportunity to
Good morning, Chair Lang, Vice-chair Wilkin, Ranking Member Sykes and members of the committee. My name is Heather Smith, and I am a work and wages researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization with the mission of creating a more prosperous, equitable, sustainable and inclusive Ohio. Thank
An economy that works is an economy that values every worker, from the retail worker to the driver that delivers your packages. Every person has an integral part in sustaining our economic ecosystem and each person is an important part of our shared community. Our current system is one in
