New study shows record number of jobs in Ohio, but inequalities persist • Ohio Capital Journal

However, jobless claims were down in the reports from August 11-17 this year. The state reported 4,945 initial jobless claims, down from 5,388 in the week ending August 10.

The number of jobless claims also fell in the week ending August 17, from 43,798 in the previous week to 43,023. The state reported a labor force participation rate of 62.3% for July, just below the US rate of 62.7%.

According to Policy Matters Ohio, Ohio will have recovered jobs lost in the COVID recession in May 2023. In March 2024, the state recorded “the largest number of jobs gained in state history, restoring jobs lost in the dot-com recession of 2001.”

“Smart, large-scale federal investments have put working people at the center of the ongoing recovery,” Halbert, lead author and executive director of Policy Matters, said in a statement.

However, the recovery has not been the same for all residents of the state.

“Systemic racism, combined with inflation-reducing interest rate hikes, have undone much of these gains for black workers,” according to key findings from Policy Matters’ latest study.

These important findings also put the current black unemployment rate in the spotlight: It is 9.1% and, according to the researchers, is higher than pre-pandemic levels.

These inequalities can have many long-term consequences for people of color that go beyond financial burdens. A study conducted in April by researchers at Ohio State University and others linked job losses among black people in the U.S. to drug-related death rates in that population.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, used county-level employment figures and drug death rates to put the labor market situation into perspective, particularly with regard to workers of color.

“Research shows that disconnection from work leads to collective frustration and hopelessness, family breakdown, community violence and crime, and increases drug use as a refuge from mental health problems,” the researchers explained.

Just one additional job for every 100 black workers could have a “statistically significant dampening effect” on Ohio’s seizure rate, particularly for the drug fentanyl, a study finds.

While Policy Matters acknowledged that wages in the state have “risen faster than inflation,” high prices for essential goods and the average wage have left some workers with little room to live comfortably.

“Ohioans with little or no disposable income must spend more or even all of their money on the things most affected by inflation: food and housing,” the researchers found.

According to Halbert and Lovejoy, food prices were 21.1% higher between 2021 and 2023 and property values ​​increased 58% between 2018 and 2023.

“Workers in the bottom 20%, earning the minimum wage or slightly more, saw the largest percentage increase in wages since 2019,” according to Policy Matters’ key findings, “but the top 20% dwarfs all other categories of workers, experiencing a 29% increase in average median wages since 1979.”

The median wage in Ohio was $23.95 per hour in 2023, representing “the largest annual increase in median wages since data began being collected in 1979,” the study said.

The median hourly wage for black workers in Ohio was $20.11, and the state’s women earned just 81 cents for every dollar their male counterparts received.

“Men’s wages rose faster than women’s, widening the median gender wage gap to just under $5,” the researchers found.

In July, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio found that state residents would need to earn at least $20.81 per hour in a full-time job to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment in Ohio, a figure that represents a 9% increase from 2023.

In the study, Halbert recommended federal and state-specific goals that would create a better future for all.

“If policymakers in Washington and Columbus want to continue working toward shared prosperity, they must focus on tax and budget policies that make it easier for working people and families to afford the cost of living – and the cost of going to work,” she said in a statement.