COLUMBUS – An annual Labor Day snapshot of Ohio’s workforce indicates the state is emerging from recession but is not out of the woods yet, with weak job growth, low wages and disparities plaguing working families.
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There’s some cause for cautious optimism to be gleaned from the annual “State of Working Ohio” report from the think tank Policy Matters Ohio, which indicates that, at 4.8 percent, unemployment is low and wages rose for the first time in many years.
However, executive director Amy Hanauer notes, to feel truly confident, there needs to be another year of wage growth.
“Back in the 20th century, you expected wage growth almost every year for working people,” she said. That has not been the case over the past couple of decades. So we were happy to see wage growth last year but we would like to see that maintained.”
The report also shows while jobs lost in the recent recession have been recovered, Ohio still has fewer jobs than prior to the recession in the early 2000’s.
Hanauer notes earnings disparities persist, with African-American and female workers earning much less than their white male counterparts.
Labor force participation was at a 36-year low in 2015, according to the report, and Hanauer says that indicates that the low unemployment numbers are not telling the whole story.
“A lot of people in Ohio and nationally too, actually, have left the labor market, so even though official unemployment is low, that kind of masks the fact that a lot of working people, particularly working-age men, have stopped looking for work,” she said.
The report contends strategies are needed that will employ people now while positioning Ohio better for the future, including investments that increase energy efficiency and improve infrastructure. The report also recommends boosting the minimum wage, investing in education, encouraging unions and defending unemployment compensation.