Sunday Stats: State of Working Ohio
Posted September 06, 2020 in eNews
We’re sending our enews out on Sunday this week. We wanted to be sure to include our annual Labor Day report that we released today, “State of Working Ohio: Reset and Unrig.” We will be back to Saturday Stats in two weeks!
500,000: Nearly half-a-million Ohioans are still out of work after being laid off due to the pandemic. That is just one of the eye-popping figures in this year’s “State of Working Ohio” by Michael Shields, April Hopcroft and Siyang Liu. The report contains data on unemployment filings by race and gender; the growing wage differential between what Black and white workers are paid; the impact of the pandemic on working women; and how education affects how much a worker is paid. Of course, it’s also full of our best ideas about how to provide an immediate “reset” for working people, and how policymakers can “unrig” the economy going forward. Please use this social media kit to share our report!
900: Across the nation, more than 900 health care workers have died due to COVID-19. During the pandemic, simply going to work can be dangerous. That’s why Michael says Ohio lawmakers need to do more to protect working people on the job.
8: Kalitha Williams has been beating back attacks on the Ohio Debt Adjuster’s Act for at least eight years. This week, unfortunately, the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee voted to pass SB 112, which dismantles important consumer protections. Kalitha isn’t done fighting. She says the senators who voted for it are “doing the bidding of debt adjustment corporations, working to remove important consumer protections. As Ohio families struggle to pay their bills, they need more safeguards from companies that have a track record of exploiting them, not less.”
$440 million: That’s how much in state budget cuts Ohio policymakers already have planned for Ohio’s next budget year, according to Wendy Patton. Lower state revenue due to the pandemic and recession coupled with Gov. DeWine’s May budget cuts are setting a new, lower spending bar for next year. That could mean fewer resources for important things like public education, health programs and public defenders. The federal government hasn’t yet provided the kind of relief Americans need.,so state leaders must do all they can. Wendy offered some suggestions to Gov. DeWine in the Ohio Capital Journal.
390,000: That is the number of student debt accounts Ohio’s public colleges and universities have turned over to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office – adding up to more than $735 million in debt. Ohio Student Association member Jarrod Robinson cited Piet van Lier’s research in a powerful op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch.
Coming up:
September 11 at 10 a.m.: “Count Me In,” is a Facebook Live forum on the link between hunger and an incomplete census count. The event is hosted by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition and Policy Matters Ohio. Our Daniel Ortiz will be there.
September 14 at 1 p.m.: Kalitha will be a panelist for the National Prevention Town Hall which will discuss how to better incorporate racial equity into the fight to end domestic violence.
September 14 at 6 p.m.: Join ReImagine Appalachia for its Sustainable Justice Town Hall on how justice reforms can build a stronger Appalachia for everyone.
September 16 at 7 p.m.: Daniel will be a featured speaker at the online event: Showing How We Count: Storytelling and civic engagement in the Latinx community.