Good News on Election day - Nationwide, minimum wage measures saw victories and Ohio was no exception. Ohio citizens voted to give 719,000 Ohio workers a raise in 2007. This is a clear victory for Ohio workers who’ve been struggling to make it on $5.15 an hour. 

Bad News Since - The Republican legislature passed a bill in the lame duck session that tries to cut home care workers and others out and limits workers’ ability to join together to sue those who break the law. In the guise of implementing what the voters had passed, legislators actually explicitly defied voter intent. Their unconstitutional move will surely spark an immediate lawsuit. Talk about lame…..

The legislature also gutted consumer protection during the December session, passing a bill that would take away wronged consumers’ right to sue for non-economic damages. It was that threat that kept unscrupulous sellers in check – if they bilked consumers, they knew they might have to pay real money. Outgoing Republican Attorney General Jim Petro and incoming Democratic Attorney General Mark Dann agree that the new scheme is a consumer killer – and consumer advocates are urging Governor Taft to veto the ill-advised bill and keep in place the modest consumer protections that we have.

Employment Stays Flat - Employment in Ohio remains on its recent plateau, according to seasonally adjusted payroll numbers for nonfarm wage and salary jobs released Nov. 21 by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS). The number of jobs in Ohio has ebbed slightly over the summer and fall months, declining by 9,000 since its recent peak in May. More info here.

Recession Looming? - Job growth’s been weak, but could get worse if our friends at the Center for Economic Policy Research are right – they think the economy’s headed toward another recession. If so, Ohio could be in the miserable position of having fewer jobs at the end of a national economic expansion than it had prior to the previous recession. Read the CEPR predictions here.

TABOR Tabled - But 2006 was, in some ways, a good year for policy. A year ago, we worried that state budgets would be stymied by an absurd amendment to cap spending. The so-called TABOR proposal in Ohio was withdrawn by supporters before it hit the ballot, in part because of the outcry from local governments who knew it would cripple their ability to provide basic public services. Ohio legislators passed a weak version of what supporters had hoped to put on the ballot – a bad move to be sure. But voters here and elsewhere rejected the most extreme forms of this measure. In sixteen states, TABOR-style budget busters were being pushed a year ago. Not one of the original proposals has become law.

Hey, thanks for asking - Ohio elected officials are seeking our advice. On education, energy, economic development, taxes, wealth building and workforce policy, our phone is ringing at Policy Matters with transition teams asking us to take part, elected officials coordinating strategy sessions, and requests for analysis. In addition to assisting whenever we’re asked, Policy Matters will be coming out with a comprehensive economic plan early in the new year. A new year, new elected officials, a new report from Policy Matters…. we hope all will lead to new prosperity for you and for Ohio.

That’s all!
The Policy Matters Ohio Team 

On November 7, 2006, over two million Ohioans voted for an amendment to the state constitution that raised the minimum wage and indexed it to inflation. The amendment offered broader coverage to Ohio workers than federal law. In the waning days of a December “lame duck” session, the Ohio legislature passed implementing legislation (House Bill 690) that undermined the new constitutional amendment. Policy Matters Ohio and other groups objected to the bill, most notably because it denied coverage to home health care workers, part-time police and fire personnel, outside salespersons, and others who clearly should be covered.

Under Strickland Administration, the Department of Commerce interpreted the details of the legislative language to close some of the loopholes that the legislature tried to open. For example, the Department’s interpretation covers home health care workers, amusement park workers, and certain farm laborers.

Now that most Ohioans are covered by the state minimum wage, the challenge of enforcement shifts to the state. The number of minimum wage and overtime complaints filed with the Department of Commerce during the first half of 2007 is more than double the level of the first half of 2006, but staff levels have not kept pace. Policymakers should pay close attention to whether the volume of complaints continues at a high level, and should provide more resources if necessary.

Recent federal minimum wage legislation may have little effect on Ohio. By the time the federal minimum wage increase is fully phased-in at $7.25 an hour in July 2009, Ohio’s minimum wage likely will be at this level, if not greater, due to its built-in inflation adjustment. Full coverage under the new amendment, coupled with strong enforcement, is essential to provide a minimum standard of living to Ohio’s workers.

Click here to read our testimony on the initial version of the implementing legislation. The final version of the bill restored the Department of Commerce’s ability to conduct employer-wide investigations and removed a provision that banned agreements to work for less than minimum wage, but did not address the other concerns raised in the testimony.

For additional information, read a letter sent by Professor Ken Kowalski of the Cleveland State University Marshall College of Law to the Senate Insurance, Commerce, & Labor Committee on December 19, 2006 stating reasons why the bill is inconsistent with the constitutional amendment.

(Read the letter.)

Five years after the recession, Ohio employment is still in the doldrums

Five years after the official end of the last recession, Ohio employment remains in the doldrums. The state is still more than 30,000 jobs short of the total it had in November 2001, at the end of the recession. Over the past year, the state has added a mere 1,200 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted payroll numbers for nonfarm wage and salary jobs released Dec. 29 by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). The number of jobs in Ohio has fallen by 12,000 since its recent peak last May.

Full Report