As higher education has become more essential, it has also become more expensive in Ohio and in the nation. Ohio’s state investment in higher education, measured per pupil or as a percent of state income, has not kept pace with other states or with demand. Having always lagged the nation in higher education completion, we can ill afford to fall further behind. Below the Curve: Higher Education Opportunity in Ohio examines Ohio’s system of higher education financing and makes recommendations to get our state above the curve.

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In its rush to approve a limit on state spending, the Ohio General Assembly is on the
brink of passing a measure with possibly far-reaching implications without needed
review. The proposal was added to the tobacco settlement budget bill (Sub. S.B. 321)
yesterday afternoon through a last-minute amendment. As others have pointed out, such
limits will hurt the ability of the state to make needed investments in education and other
public services.

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Good for Business? - Twenty states have raised their minimum wages above the federal, as a grassroots coalition hopes to do through a ballot initiative here later this year. The state action isn’t surprising: the value of the federal minimum wage is lower than at any time in more than 50 years. Do high and low minimum wage states differ in their economic performance? Join us in the North Hallway outside the governor’s ceremonial office in the state capital at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday May 10 to find out. Don’t remember who would gain from a minimum wage increase? Review our March report Who Needs a Raise?

TELLING the Truth - Just six months from now, Ohio voters will decide whether to put a proposed tax and expenditure limitation amendment (TEL) in the state constitution.  The proposal is modeled on a disastrous initiative that wrecked higher education, health care, transportation infrastructure, and other public services in Colorado.  Coloradans were so fed up with the proposal that they suspended this part of their constitution in November, 2005.  [Read about Colorado's experience here.]  Ohio’s TEL combines the worst of all worlds: it is both poorly drafted and far-reaching.  The proposal not only hinders state government, but will undermine local governments, school districts, and universities.  Our analysis Flawed by Design reveals some of the problems with the TEL.  The Coalition for Ohio’s Future site can show you how to protect Ohio from this bad idea.

When Work Disappears - In less than a generation, we’ve shifted from a society where workers may have expected to hold the same job for life to one in which many Ohioans are displaced annually, and compensation often plummets. To get better at helping those laid off, Policy Matters crunched three years of data on more than 12,000 workers who got training under the Job Training Partnership Act.  The results lend insights for today’s workforce development system: target high wage career paths, do skill-intensive training, make full use of labor market information, create better links to employers, and make support services available during training.  Click here to read the report.

Foreclosures Grow…Again - The number of Ohioans who lost homes to foreclosure and sheriff sales continued to grow in 2005. Last year, foreclosure filings increased 8.5 percent, and the 63,996 filings represented one for every 71 Ohio households. Our new report analyzes foreclosure filing data from the Ohio Supreme Court and provides preliminary data from its biennial survey of county sheriffs.  Read more here.

Good Job News at last? - Ohio’s job market showed some signs of improvement in March. Employment growth resumed after three months of job losses, according to a survey of employers. A separate survey of households indicated the number of unemployed has fallen. However, there are reasons to remain cautious about the strength of the improvement. Read more on our JobWatch page.

We’ve got a puppy - Well, not really; but research assistant David Rothstein has been bringing Lucy, his cocker spaniel/poodle into the office quite a bit ever since she arrived last month.  You can see a picture of Lucy here!

That’s all!
The Policy Matters Ohio Team 

More improvement in Ohio’s job market

Ohio’s job market continued to show improvement last month, as a survey of employers showed a jump in employment to the highest level since February 2002.

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The U.S. Supreme Court on May 15 overturned a Cincinnati appeals court ruling that had thrown out Ohio’s investment tax credit as a violation of the constitution’s interstate commerce clause. It did not act on the merits of the case, but said those who brought it lacked standing to do so. The case was closely watched by those seeking fair and effective economic development policies.

When states offer tax credits, it often undercuts funding for important public sector programs, including education and other things vital to economic development. These tax breaks are not a large factor in corporate location decisions. But as long as other states are offering these credits, it can be hard to avoid what is often called a race to the bottom. Advocates for smarter economic development policy had hoped that the Supreme Court would reduce this negative competition. The court’s unwillingness to rule on the tax break itself means that – for now, at least – state and local tax breaks will continue to proliferate.

Read the Supreme Court Decision

Does a higher minimum wage hurt small business and cause job loss? Not according to this comprehensive analysis of small business establishment, payroll and employment growth. This study compared small business performance in states with a higher minimum wage to performance in states where the federal minimum wage prevailed between 1997 and 2003. Good for Business: Small business growth and state minimum wages found that jobs grew more, payrolls grew more, and the number of establishments grew more in states with a higher minimum wage. Just one more piece of evidence that higher minimum wages are an important part of an economy that works better for everyone.

Source: Authors calculations based on CBP Annual Reports. Weighted data.

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Fact File on the Minimum Wage

A Teachable Moment: The Minimum Wage and the Youth Vote

This report analyzes outcomes for over 12,000 unemployed Ohio workers who received occupational training during the final three years of the federally-supported Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). The program has both positive and negative lessons for current dislocated worker programs. Many of the most popular training courses were short-term and not skill-intensive, making it difficult for workers to find jobs with wage levels that were equivalent to their previous employment. Younger workers were an exception to this trend, in part because their layoff wages were low. Many workers had difficulty finding jobs in their training fields, indicating that the program generally did not have good connections to employers. Truck driving, the most popular training choice for men, was the most successful training path. Most people in this field completed their training and found training-related jobs with benefits.

The report makes four major recommendations for workforce development policy:

- Target high-wage occupations with benefits and career paths.
- Use labor market information and partnerships with employers to focus training on skills     that employers demand.
- Encourage skill-intensive training that is more likely to enable dislocated workers to               reach their previous wage levels.
- Provide financial and other supportive services, such as transportation and child care, to       make it easier for people to complete training.\

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