The State of Working Ohio: Weak economy, persistent divides
How much Ohio workers earn and whether or not they have a job often depends on their race, gender or where they live, according to The State of Working Ohio 2017, a new report from Policy Matters Ohio embargoed for Sun. Sept 3. Ohio’s gender pay gap has narrowed over time, but median wages for […]
Katie Fallon joins Policy Matters’ research staff
Katie Fallon is joining Policy Matters Ohio as a research analyst. In both work and studies, Fallon focused on identifying the best policies to provide all people with decent housing, transportation and other essentials. Fallon received her doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the summer of 2017. Her research focused on how […]
Missed opportunity: General Assembly fails to close unproductive tax loopholes
After a nearly 12-year-long tax-cutting spree, the Ohio General Assembly finally approved a budget that doesn’t significantly cut revenues for public services or shift taxes onto those who can least afford it. Despite the progress, Policy Matters Ohio found that Ohio’s 2018-2019 budget still contains many new or expanded tax loopholes and fails to provide […]
Good news and bad news with Senate veto votes
The Ohio Senate joined the House and overrode six of the Governor’s budget vetoes today. “There was both good and bad news in the Senate votes,” said Wendy Patton, senior project director at Policy Matters Ohio. One of the veto overrides shifts authority in fiscal year 2019 for the release of state funds for Medicaid […]
Senate veto actions: Protect transit, counties, Medicaid expansion
Governor Kasich vetoed 47 provisions in the state budget and the House overrode 11 of them. Most of them had to do with Medicaid. Medicaid is Ohio’s largest single health insurer, covering around 3 million people, a quarter of all Ohioans. About two-thirds of its funding comes from federal dollars. Because of this, Medicaid is […]
Ohio blue collar jobs report, Q2 2017
Introduction June marked the eighth anniversary of the official end to the 2007 great recession. Over the last eight years, Ohio has regained the number of jobs lost to that recession and employment has grown by about 2 percent. Yet, many Ohioans feel less secure than they did in 2007. Our first blue-collar jobs report […]
House GOP budget plan guts safety net programs
Ohio students, children, seniors face big losses From food aid to Medicaid to Pell Grants, the Republican budget plan making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives takes aim at critical public services that help millions of Ohioans, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The House budget plan […]
Young Clevelanders struggle to find good jobs
Although high school graduation rates are going up, for young people living in Greater Cleveland, living wage jobs are hard to come by – especially for young Clevelanders of color. Between 2013 and 2015, Clevelanders between the ages of 18 and 29 faced an unemployment rate of 13.8 percent, five points higher than the city […]
Amy Hanauer testifies at Kaptur NAFTA hearing
Smart trade policy can protect manufacturing, workers and the environment Policy Matters Ohio executive director Amy Hanauer testified today on ways to encourage American manufacturing and improve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at a hearing hosted by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur at the United Automobile Workers Local 1250 Hall in Brook Park. Kaptur […]
Fate of health care coverage for hundreds of thousands in the hands of the Senate
This month, the Ohio Senate may finally settle the 2018-2019 budget. Their decisions on whether to override some or all of the governor’s vetoes will have a profound impact ranging from Medicaid health care coverage to county and transit agency budgets. Governor Kasich made 47 vetoes to the budget and the House overrode 11 of […]
Policy Matters Ohio statement on failure of health repeal to pass Senate
Policy Matters Ohio Senior Project Director Wendy Patton on the U.S. Senate’s failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act: Last night’s narrow defeat of the Senate “skinny repeal” bill is a huge victory, one that helps protect Ohio’s public health gains and sharp drop in uninsurance rates due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). More […]
Ohioans saddled with too much student debt
New campaign seeks better protections for student borrowers More than 687,000 Ohioans owe $19 billion in federal student loan debt. In order to pay their loans back, they must traverse a dangerous climate of repayment scams and predatory loan servicers that could put them in even deeper holes. In 2014, an estimated 42.2 percent of […]