COLUMBUS – Despite steady economic growth in the state, a new report shows many Ohioans are still vulnerable to financial hardship.
The 2020 Scorecard from the policy group Prosperity Now is a snapshot of financial security among states, and ranks Ohio 44th overall, citing the state’s income poverty rate’ of 13.7, which is higher than many states.
For more than one in three Ohioans, ‘liquid-asset poverty’ is a reality, said the group’s associate director of Policy Holden Weisman. It means a person does not have enough liquid-asset savings to get by at the poverty level for just three months in the wake of an income loss.
There is a wide disparity in the level of liquid-asset poverty between white residents and minorities. Among white households, the number is 29 percent while, for households of color, that rises to over 65 percet, Weisman said.
Weisman says Ohio also ranks poorly in the research about debt and consumer credit.
“Things like people reporting that they fell behind on their bills, or the percentage of consumers who have a collection action against them,” he said.
He said Ohio ranked 48th in the percent of borrowers with student loan debt and 41st in the level of median student loan debt.
The report ranks Ohio in the top ten among states for housing affordability, housing-cost burden, and home ownership rates but disparities exist there as well, with housing affordability rates nearly double for white households compared to black households.
The scorecard examines policies Ohio could implement to improve economic conditions and Weisman thinks one policy Ohio should improve upon is the quality of its Earned Income Tax Credit, which is non-refundable