Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes - This month, Governor Strickland signed legislation, passed with broad bipartisan support, to limit interest rates that can be charged for short-term loans to 28% APR, down from the 390% that the industry had typically charged. To read some of the research we conducted that helped spark the reform, click here. You may also have read that payday lenders have announced an intent to gather signatures to put a measure on the November ballot repealing the reform – Attorney General Nancy Rogers ruled that their first stab at ballot language was deceptive. Stay tuned.

Accountability Amendment - Policy Matters staff helped add an amendment to the state’s economic stimulus plan. The amendment allows the state to set performance and reporting requirements for recipients of assistance under a $400 million portion of the $1.57 billion plan. Read Researcher Jon Honeck’s testimony on the issue. Better accountability in state economic development spending? Words to warm a policy wonk’s heart…

Collateral damage -  As foreclosures continue to spike, one issue that has gotten little attention is the effect on renters. More than a third of Cuyahoga County households rent and they often receive minimal notice if the homes they live in are going to be foreclosed upon. Many lose their security deposits, some have to abandon furniture and appliances, some can’t find new housing and need to impose upon relatives, others have to accept steep rent increases because they lack time to shop around. If children are involved, countless other issues emerge. A new report considers how to reduce financial and social upheaval for what we estimate to be nearly 4,000 renting families in Cuyahoga County who were uprooted by foreclosures in 2007. 

Voices behind the numbers - Recent poll results found 71% of Ohioans supporting an effort to allow Ohio employees to earn paid sick days. Research from last year provides the numbers, a report from last month provides the voices. Paid Sick Days: Voices from Ohio demonstrates poignantly how having sick days helps (one profiled professional used a paid sick day to get a mammogram, worked through treatment of the cancer it revealed, and has been healthy since)…. and how not having sick days hurts (we talk to restaurant workers and truck and bus drivers who worked while sick, putting the public at risk, because they could not afford an unpaid day). Read these and other stories to learn how an issue on this November’s ballot could help the 2.2 million Ohioans who can’t earn paid sick days and the 3.5 million who can’t take care of a sick child without losing pay. We’re grateful to the Public Welfare Foundation for support of this research series.

Out-of-work fund soon out of money? -  During the next year, Ohio’s unemployment compensation system is likely to borrow from the federal government in order to pay benefits to jobless workers. Learn why the UC system is in such poor financial shape and what we should do about it.

To the map - Want to know how many homes had foreclosures filed against them in your Ohio county? Click here to find out.

Union Advantage - At a time of disappointing wage growth and startling inequality increases, would you be interested in a solution that reduces inequality, raises compensation across the board, significantly increases wages of low-wage workers in particular, and boosts pay and benefits for black workers? Two reports from the Center for Economic and Policy Research – here and here – reveal the super-powered shocker that can do all of this.

Capital Gains, Middle-Class Pains - The middle class has not received much benefit from the 2003 reduction of the top U.S. tax rate for capital gains and corporate stock dividends. Instead, according to a report by Citizens for Tax Justice, the advantage has gone overwhelmingly to the wealthiest Americans. In Ohio, the top 1 percent of taxpayers making an average of $955,400 a year will gain $14,298 in 2009. Meanwhile, the bottom 60 percent of Ohio taxpayers by income will average a gain of just $20. Less money is coming into the government, meaning program cuts or increases in deficit spending.

The interns are here -  We’d like to thank some of the terrific interns and volunteers who’ve helped us in the past few months – Eden Engel-Rebitzer (Shaker Heights High School and Wesleyan University), Brad Banas, Stephen Cabrera (CWRU), and to welcome the terrific crew that is helping now – Obed Eugene (Howard University), Tim Krueger (Cornell University alum), Brandon Henneman (Cleveland State University), Mike Stanek (University of Chicago), Laura Wichman (Capital University), Alex Hollingsworth (Miami University) and Lea Madry, Mike Newell, and Elizabeth Slife, all from Ohio State University. April Hirsh, our field placement from Case, has been so helpful we’re keeping her on for the time being.

Muchas gracias - For support for the reports mentioned in this e-news, the interns who are helping write them, and our work in general, a shout-out to some of our funders: the Public Welfare Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, the Sisters of Charity Foundation, the Economic Policy Institute, the New World Foundation, Greater Cleveland Community Shares, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, among others. Want to join this proud list? Click here.

That’s all!
The Policy Matters Ohio Team 

The number of foreclosure filings in Cuyahoga County and across Ohio continues to rise. Renters make up a significant portion of Cuyahoga County’s households (more than one-third) but are often not considered in the foreclosure process. Renting families are often given little, if any, notice about the house going into foreclosure and may face significant costs when they leave. An estimated 3,918 foreclosure filings in Cuyahoga County were rental units in 2007, an increase of 29 percent from the previous year. Rental foreclosure filings grew at a higher rate than owner-occupied foreclosure filings. Rental foreclosure filings represented nearly 30 percent of all residential property foreclosure filings in 2007.

Executive Summary

Full Report

During the next year, Ohio’s unemployment compensation system is likely to borrow from the federal government in order to pay benefits to jobless workers. This backgrounder explores why the UC system is in such poor financial shape and makes recommendation on what should be done. It finds that the system has been underfunded over the past decade. Employers have paid lower taxes than the national average while benefit costs have been in line with those of other states. Ohio currently requires that taxes be paid on the first $9,000 of each employee’s earnings. As a first step to putting the fund on solid ground, the state should increase that taxable wage base and index it to wage levels.

Press Release

Full Report

Interviews with business owners and employees reveal strong evidence of the need for paid sick days in Ohio. Currently more than 2.2 million Ohio workers have no paid sick days and 3.3 million cannot use paid sick days to care for a sick child or parent. A coalition in Ohio seeks to change that. This report gives a face to the reasons why. Among the stories it tells:

· A now-retired volunteer administrator who used a paid sick day to get a mammogram, revealing a malignant lump – she worked through her treatment and has been cancer free since.
· A restaurant worker who has no paid sick days and admits to working when sick.
· Two employees who confess they’ve driven trucks or buses while sick because they couldn’t afford the day without pay.
· A mother with 17 years of seniority at a Cleveland factory who has a good vacation policy but gets “points” if she calls in sick without giving her employer advance notice.
· A mother who says she gave birth on a Saturday and returned to work without missing a day.
· Two employers who argue that providing paid sick days makes their workplaces more productive and competitive.
· A husband who could not miss work when his wife’s lymphoma required chemotherapy
· A father who, after what he describes as years of steady attendance, had to take unpaid time off for serious injuries, forcing his family to go into debt and seek food stamps and church assistance.
· Several professionals whose supportive policies have helped them meet their families’ needs and inspired deep commitment to their workplaces.
· Two men who felt torn when their mothers were hospitalized (one for heart surgery, one for cancer) and they couldn’t take a day off to assist.
· Widespread support for a legislative standard allowing employees to earn paid sick days.

The interviews reflected what government data confirms – that many Ohio employees (42 percent) do not have paid sick days and that low- and middle-income workers are less likely to have this standard than more affluent Ohioans. Half of those with paid sick days still do not miss a single day of work in an average year and a study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research finds that providing paid sick days in Ohio would yield a net savings of more than $1.00 per worker per week.

Press Release

Full Report

Read our report – Outbreak in Ohio: Cost of the 2008 Norovirus Incident in Kent

Read our report – A Healthy Standard: Paid Sick Days in Ohio

Little long-term growth in Ohio job market

Ohio employment continues to bob up and down from month to month, while showing little
growth over the long-term. Ohio and Michigan are the only two states in the country that do not have as many jobs as they did when the last recession officially ended more than six years ago.

Since then, Ohio has lost 68,000 jobs, or 1.2 percent of its total. According to seasonally adjusted payroll numbers for nonfarm wage and salary jobs released June 20 by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Ohio employment remains around the same as it was late last year.

Full Report