Policy Matters Ohio on the $8.6 Billion Gap Between Work and Wages

On this episode

About this episode

Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert and Work and Wages Director Ali Smith discuss the annual State of Working Ohio report finding that worker productivity has grown 84% over the past generation while wages have grown only 22%, Ohio’s union density collapse from 35.5% in 1979 to 12.8% today representing an $8.6 billion annual wage gap, a minimum wage of $11 per hour that falls more than $10,000 short of basic living costs in the least expensive Ohio county, a childcare workforce down nearly 40% since 2019 and the WIN Act providing free childcare to childcare workers as a retention tool modeled on Kentucky’s program.