poverty
Ohio bill to raise minimum wage to $15, eliminate tipped worker distinction has sponsor testimony
A bill that would raise Ohio’s minimum wage was rolled out for the first time to the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee Wednesday afternoon during sponsor testimony. Ohio Sens. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, introduced Senate Bill 146, which would gradually increase the state’s minimum wage $1 each year until it was […]
Ohio Democrats introduce bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage
Ohio Democratic lawmakers have once again introduced a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage. Ohio Senators Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, recently introduced Senate Bill 146, which would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage one dollar each year until it was up to $15. Under the bill, minimum wage would increase […]
Census Bureau releases new poverty numbers
On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on the state of poverty in the United States. Every year, this is the biggest moment in poverty statistics as we get a snapshot of what poverty looked like in the previous year. While statewide information is forthcoming, with the national numbers we can come […]
Still just a dream: 60 years later, racial wealth disparities remain wide
It was 60 years ago this week that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech” to a quarter-million arrayed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The crowd must have been filled with hope. Lincoln’s war against slavery had been won almost a century earlier. But virtual slavery in […]
It’s time to stand up to the oligarchy
Hardly a month goes by without news of billionaires lavishing gifts or favors on members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The latest revelation once again involved Justice Clarence Thomas, who reportedly has been traveling in private jets and luxury yachts to exotic destinations, paid for by a group of ultrawealthy benefactors. The fact that corruption grips the highest court […]
Ohio’s poverty rate increased to 13.4% in 2021, according to new report
Ohio’s poverty rate increased from 12.7% to 13.4% in 2021 — the first time in more than a decade it has increased year-to-year, according to the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies latest State of Poverty report. Scioto County in Southern Ohio had the highest overall poverty rate in 2021 with 23.9% and the highest […]
Ohio economists divided on housing subsidy in conflict between House and Senate
As the Ohio legislature debates whether to provide subsidies to developers to build low-income housing, a panel of economists is divided on whether that will significantly lower rents. The lack of affordable housing is an acute problem in the Buckeye State. The Columbus Dispatch earlier this month reported that a full-time worker would have to […]
License amnesty program nets big gains for low-income drivers
Nearly a quarter-million Ohio drivers have taken advantage of a program started at the end of 2020 that is intended to reduce license-reinstatement fees or waive them altogether, the Ohio Poverty Law Center said Monday. The group released an analysis of the amnesty program, a bipartisan measure passed by the legislature. It found that nearly […]
A pandemic experiment in universal free school meals gains traction in the states
WASHINGTON — Every public school kid in the United States was eligible for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of family income, thanks to the federal government. While that’s now ended, a growing number of states across the country are enacting universal school meal laws to bolster child food security and academic equity. […]
Economists: Ohio flat-tax would worsen inequality
An overwhelming majority of a panel of Ohio economists believes that a flat-tax proposal pending in the Ohio House would worsen economic inequality in Ohio, according to a survey that was published Monday. Most of the 22 who responded also didn't think that the proposal would spur economic growth.
After the end of COVID-era benefits, 70k older Ohioans struggle to fight hunger
After Congress ended pandemic food assistance in February, 70,000 older Ohioans have seen food benefits slashed to $23 a month, in some cases down from $280. That has many making excruciating choices between food, medicine and utilities like electricity and gas, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, said Wednesday. And while […]
Child poverty dropped to a record low last year. A new report shows how to keep it that way.
The expanded child tax credit that families received in 2021 helped reduce child poverty across the country, but particularly in the South where families lack a sufficient safety net, according to a paper released last week. The report by the Hamilton Project, the Brookings Institution’s economic policy initiative, comes as some Democrats appear ready to […]