Editorial: Celebrating the American worker on Labor Day
Labor Day celebrates the virtue of hard work and recognizes the sacrifices and achievements of the American worker. This holiday, working Ohioans find themselves at a crossroads. Unemployment remains low. The unadjusted rate for July was an encouraging 4.8 percent. Many sectors have recovered from the Great Recession. The total number of jobs in 2015 […]
Ohio unemployment rate 4.8%; state gains 11,400 jobs
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in July, with the state gaining 11,400 jobs, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday. The unemployment rate was down from 5.0 percent in June. In July 2015, the jobless rate was 5.3 percent. “The 43 consecutive months, in which Ohio’s job growth […]
Ohio’s beleaguered public transit is on the edge of real financial crisis with sales tax changes
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ohio’s public transit is on the edge of a financial disaster as a statewide tax nears its end. In response to a federal mandate, the sales and use tax on Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) will no longer be collected by the state starting in July. Without that funding, transit agencies are […]
Payday Loan Limits May Cut Abuse but Leave Some Borrowers Looking
CANTON, Ohio — This city of 73,000 is known for a few things — the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the presidential library of William McKinley, a lively downtown arts scene. But in banking circles, it has gained a more distinct reputation: Canton is a nexus of the payday lending industry, in which people who […]
0 29 shares Smoothing the way for better pay for Ohio’s home-care workforce: Wendy Patton, Policy Matters Ohio
Guest columnist Wendy Patton is a Senior Project Director with Policy Matters Ohio, a not-for-profit, non-partisan research organization with a mission of contributing to a more vibrant, equitable, inclusive and sustainable Ohio. Demand for home care is growing rapidly, yet until recently the nation’s 2 million-plus home-care workers did not have wage and hour protections […]
Thank a Teacher with #WorthyWages
Originally posted on AFT’s blog, SchoolHouse Voices.This week, parents, elected officials, students, and communities are engaging in National Teacher Appreciation Week. For one week every year, teachers across the country are acknowledged for their often selfless contributions and thankless efforts. Ohio has more than 100,000 teachers. I thank them for being an example for us […]
How Energy States Could Better Weather the Boom-and-Bust Cycle
As major oil-producing states face budget shortfalls, a new report calls on states to rethink how they’re collecting and spending severance tax revenues. Following a sharp decline in oil severance tax revenues, Alaska lawmakers are considering bringing back the state’s personal income tax for the first time in nearly four decades to help close an […]
Cleveland’s ‘most distressed’ designation driven in part by changes that depressed GED passage rates: Daniel Hinman (Opinion)
In February, Cleveland was listed by the Economic Innovation Group as the nation’s “most distressed large city.” The first data point EIG used was the number of high school degrees held by the 25 and older population. In our region, 23 percent of this group lacks a high school diploma. When a business grows or […]
Report Examines “Child Care Crisis” in America
Some low-income Ohio families spend half their earnings on child care. (Pixabay) COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some Ohio families pay more than half of their salaries to cover the cost of child care, according to a new report that examines solutions to what it calls a child care crisis in America. The Economic Policy Institute’s findings […]
California will phase in $15 minimum wage
Ohio at $8.10; sides argue pros and cons of raising wage California’s new statewide minimum hourly wage target of $15 — the highest in the country — could have implications in Ohio, where more than a quarter of all jobs are in low-wage occupations, federal data shows. Last year, the state minimum wage increased 15 […]
Ohio adds more than 12K jobs in February
Ohio’s monthly unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent in February as employers statewide added an estimated 12,400 jobs to non-farm payrolls, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday. The job gains in February were up substantially from the previous month when Ohio added just 100 jobs, and the unemployment rate inched […]
‘Michigan on steroids’: Factors that will determine whether Clinton or Sanders win Ohio
Through cities and suburbs, through isolated farmland and fractured steel towns, the Democratic presidential campaign has come to Ohio, whose verdict Tuesday will rest on an unpredictable mix of blue-collar anger, young voter enthusiasm and African American strength. Hillary Clinton found sustenance here before, in a romping 2008 primary victory over Barack Obama, and she […]