COLUMBUS – The effort to raise Ohio’s minimum wage has been renewed and with it the debate over whether the change would raise families out of poverty at the cost of jobs.
Two Columbus lawmakers have joined the push to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over six years.
Representative Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus) and Sen. Hearcel Craig joined fellow Democratic Rep. Brigid Kelly of Cincinnati and Sen. Cecil Thomas of Avondale in asking colleagues to co-sponsor a bill that calls for the current wage of $8.80 an hour to be raised to $10 in 2022 and then increase every year until hitting $15 in 2027.
“Our legislation cuts workers in on the deal and puts money back into our local economies. Raising the minimum wage ensures that every Ohioan who works full time has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead,” Jarrells said.
Kelly says too many working Ohioans can’t make ends meet, including some full-time workers.
“We can’t continue to bury our heads in the sand. We need to be modernizing our minimum wage, creating a pathway for people and families to be able to take care of themselves and to be able to meaningfully participate in our economy,” she said.
A 2019 report from left-leaning think tank Policy Matters Ohio found that roughly 2 million Ohioans would benefit from a $15r minimum wage with the average affected worker taking home an additional $4,252 annually.
But Michael Saltsman with the fiscally conservative Employment Policies Institute cites Congressional Budget Office’s research as evidence that jobs would be lost as a result of the wage hike.
“The specific numbers they found are you’re going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and you’ll pull about 1.3 million people out of poverty but at the cost of anywhere from 1.3 million to 3.7 million jobs,” he said.
President Joe Biden wants to more than double the current federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25, to $15 an hour and newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said a $15- -an-hour minimum wage would have a minimal impact on jobs.
“Raising Ohio’s minimum wage will increase productivity and stimulate consumer spending,” Craig said.
“The bottom line is, if minimum wage had kept up with productivity, it would be over $20 an hour,” Kelly said. “And research is showing that increases in minimum wage do not cost jobs. But in fact, folks have more money in their pockets to spend in our communities.”
Kelly and Jarrells have put their measure forth in the Ohio House of Representatives while Craig and Thomas have introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Lawmakers have until Jan. 29 to sign on in support.
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 that indexes Ohio’s minimum wage to inflation but the Ohio General Assembly in 2016 prohibited local municipalities from imposing minimum wages higher than the statewide minimum wage.