Key findings from State of Working Ohio 2024
Posted August 26, 2024 in Press Releases
Work in progress
Policy Matters’ annual State of Working Ohio report finds that federal spending helped Ohio recover jobs more rapidly than after previous recessions, and that the state now has more jobs than ever before, breaking a record that has existed for nearly a quarter century. This rebound positioned many workers to demand wage increases that outpaced overall inflation. However, historical disparities in pay and power in the workplace — and higher effective inflation rates for lower-paid workers — meant that progress was constrained.
“Smart, large-scale federal investments have put working people at the center of the ongoing recovery,” said Hannah Halbert, executive director and the report’s lead author. “Wage gains may appear larger on paper than they feel for many Ohio families, even as inflation cools. If policymakers in D.C. and Columbus want to continue building toward shared prosperity, they need to focus on tax and budget policies that make it easier for working people and families to afford the cost of living — and the cost of going to work.”
The report’s key findings are available now and included below. The full report will be available via the same link no later than 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, August 27. This year’s report will not be embargoed.
Key findings
Federal recovery policy restored lost jobs and then some.
- In May 2023, Ohio fully restored the jobs lost to the COVID recession.
- In March 2024, Ohio posted the largest job total in the state’s history, restoring the jobs lost to the 2001 dot com recession.
- In July 2023, Ohio’s unemployment rate hit an historic low: 3.3%.
- In June 2024, unemployment was still only 4.4%. Some of the increase reflects Ohioans returning to the job market or joining for the first time.
Low unemployment gave working Ohioans leverage.
- For the first time in years, jobless Ohioans had their pick of more than one available job, rather than vying for too few jobs to go around.
- In June 2021, the number of unemployed Ohio job-seekers for every open job dropped to 0.9, down from a COVID-recession peak of 5.3.
- That number remained low through 2022 and 2023 and stood most recently at 0.9 job-seekers per open job in May 2024.
- Systemic racism, combined with anti-inflation interest rate hikes, negated much of this progress for Black workers. Recently, Black worker unemployment reached 9.1%: higher than it was before the pandemic.
Wages grew, but for too many it wasn’t enough
- Ohio’s median wage in 2023 was $23.95, an increase of $1.55 (7%) over 2022. This represents the largest annual increase in the median wage since the data set began in 1979.
- Workers in the bottom 20% who were paid at or just above the minimum wage, saw the largest percent increase in wages since 2019, but the top 20% eclipses all other categories of workers experiencing a 29% rise in average median wage since 1979.
- The median Black worker in Ohio was paid $20.11 per hour, compared with $25.97 for their white counterpart.
- Ohio women were paid just 81 cents on the dollar compared with their male counterparts. Men’s wages grew faster than women’s, stretching the gender pay gap at the median to just under $5.00.
As inflation slows, high prices remain
- Overall wage growth outpaced inflation, but many families face a higher “effective” rate of inflation than others.
- Ohioans with little or no discretionary income must spend a larger share or even all their money on some of the necessities inflation hit hardest, including groceries.
- Grocery prices rose 21.1% from 2021 through 2023.
- The Consumer Price Index hit 2.9% in July. This good news will keep the Federal Reserve moving toward a needed, and possibly overdue interest rate cut.
Unions work
- The median wage of a worker covered by a collective bargaining agreement in 2023 was $26.80 per hour.
- The median wage for workers not covered by a union was $23.06 per hour.
- That’s a $3.74 difference (16%). Based on full-time work for a year of 2,080 hours, this union wage premium is worth about $7,780 per year.