Finding work harder for some groups
Table of contents Previous section Next section If Ohio as a whole is starting to experience a slight recovery, the black community continues to face daunting levels of unemployment, despite big drops in labor force participation that keep discouraged workers out of the statistic. African-Americans in Ohio were unemployed at a rate of 17 percent […]
The middle falls
Table of contents Previous section Next section While declines have been much worse at the bottom, the typical Ohio worker has been on a downward wage trajectory since about 2006 when adjusting for inflation. The real median wage in Ohio in 2011 was just $15.20, much lower than the peak years of 2006, 2000 and […]
Productivity grows, family income does not
Table of contents Previous section Next section Over the period from the end of World War II through the mid-1970s, productivity grew steadily and median family income grew right alongside it at a similar pace, adjusted for inflation. In the mid-1970s, these two trends began to diverge and although productivity (output per hour) continued to […]
Education matters
Table of contents Previous section Next section Wages vary greatly with education levels in Ohio, as in the rest of the country. Ohio workers with at least a bachelor’s degree earned $23.78 in 2011, a full $10 an hour more than workers with just some college, who earned $13.79 an hour. Workers with less than […]
Looking, but not finding work
Table of contents Previous section Next section With low employment levels and labor force participation rates, the Ohio labor market is in bad shape. Unemployment is an incomplete measure because when jobs are scarce, people leave the labor force and are no longer considered unemployed. Still, it’s important to monitor unemployment rates, which reflect people […]
Long-term joblessness
Table of contents Previous section Next section The share of the Ohio unemployed that has been unemployed for more than half a year rose to an all-time high of 44.2 percent in 2011, up from 42.4 percent in 2010. The peak prior to that was in 1984 at 30.2 percent. This is deeply troubling because […]
Manufacturing starts to rally
Table of contents Previous section Next section Manufacturing, led by durable goods manufacturing, which produces things like cars and appliances, is enjoying a healthy revival in Ohio. Manufacturing had been falling steadily in Ohio throughout the 2000s and more sharply after the beginning of the 2007 recession
Wage gaps
Table of contents Previous section Next section Women continue to earn significantly less than men at the median in Ohio. In 2011, the median woman worker
Leaving the labor market
Table of contents Previous section Next section Ohio’s labor market continues to struggle more than four years after the start of the recession that started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Over the course of that recession and the slow recovery, Ohioans continued to leave the labor force
Jobs still down
Table of contents Previous section Next section The number of jobs has finally begun to pick up slightly in Ohio after declining every year from 2006 through 2010, remaining essentially stagnant from 2003 to 2006, and dropping between 2000 and 2003. Ohio has a long way to go before regaining its recent peak job level […]
Ready for the boom?
Editorial Gov. John Kasich pledges to support the oil and gas industry’s plans for an exploration boom in Ohio only if they’re done right. To ensure that, his administration needs to allocate adequate revenue to a state office that provides vital engineering and mapping services. The Ohio Geological Survey, a division of the state Department […]
Vouchers meet special needs
Denise Smith Amos But new scholarship programs cuts into public school funds Hundreds of Ohio students who have special needs are getting help paying for private schooling for the first time this school year. Ohio’s new Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship will initially help pay for the private education of 1,369 students, with more expected […]