Poverty in Ohio: Is there an Escape?
ccording to the April 2011 Ohio Poverty Report, released by the Ohio Department
of Development, approximately 1.7 million Ohioans or about 15 percent of Ohio’s
population are poor. The report estimated that 328,000 families in Ohio are poor
(11.1 percent), which is up nearly 40 percent from 10 years ago (Spinelli n.p.).
In the past, some Ohio residents have escaped poverty by becoming employed
in public service jobs (Tavernise n.p.). However, with the recent passage of Senate
Bill 5 – using public service jobs as a pathway to middle class – may no longer be
successful in the future. (Senate Bill 5 (2011)).
Jodi and Ralph Taylor are perfect examples of Ohio residents who escaped poverty
by becoming employed in public service jobs. They were living in a trailer and working
in low-wage jobs at Wendy’s, Dairy Queen and a Big Lots discount store. Jodi’s
life changed when she landed a job with Gallipolis Developmental Center, a state job,
in 1996. Her hourly wage increased from $5.25 per hour to $9.00 per hour.
Their combined incomes is about $63,000 per year making them middle class
(Tavernise n.p.).
Many Ohioans and residents of other states, are seeking a similar escape because
more than 14 percent of the United States population had income below their
respective poverty rates, and the number of people in poverty increased to 42.9
million. Between 2008 and 2009, poverty increased in number and percentage
of people in 31 states. Real median household income in the United States fell between
2008 and 2009 — decreasing by 2.9 percent, to $50,221 from $51,726 (Mont n.p.).
Even for families who make well over minimum wage, paying for housing in Ohio
and across the country remains a difficult task, according to a report issued in 2010.
According to the report, Out of Reach 2010, the housing wage an Ohioan needs to
afford a two-bedroom residence is $13.39 per hour up nearly 30 percent over the last
decade. This report was issued by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in
Ohio and the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The housing wage is the amount
of money a person who works 40 hours per week every week must earn to afford rent
and utilities in the private market. The study also found that 43 percent of Ohio renters
didn’t make enough to pay for a two-bedroom place at fair market rental rates and when
pay falls short of the housing wage that people just pay it while depriving themselves
of other things (Tressler n.p.).
Nationally, the report found that the average fair-market rate for an apartment was
$959. A consumer would need to earn $18.44 per hour, or about $38,360 per year, to
afford a rental home. Economic deterioration in the major metropolitan areas resulted in
two states — Michigan and Oklahoma — seeing a decline in the housing wage, the
National Low Income Housing Coalition found (Tressler n.p.).
Nationwide, nearly two in five renter households (42.5%) experienced housing costs that
consumed 35% or more of their income. This ranged from 23.2% in the Casper, (Mont n.p.)
Wyo., metro area to a high of 62.8% in the College Station-Bryan, Texas, metro area.
Among the 50 most populous metro areas, Pittsburgh’s had the lowest median gross rent ($643).
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., metro area, with a gross rent of $1,414, was the
most expensive rental market . (Mont n.p.)
The median property value for owner-occupied homes in the United States was
$185,200 last year. After adjusting for inflation, this value decreased in the United States
by 5.8 percent from 2008. The nation’s highest median property values were all in
California, including San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($638,300), San Francisco-Oakland-
Fremont ($591,600), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana ($463,600), San Diego-
Carlsbad-San Marcos ($417,700) and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville ($298,000).
(Mont n.p.)
In Ohio, the median home values in most Cuyahoga County communities fell
in 2008. Only five cities experienced increases, while the median value went down in
37 places. In more than a dozen places, the median value dropped by at least 10 percent
in 2008. The city of Hunting Valley experienced the largest fall in values dropping
82 percent. The City of East Cleveland was next dropping 75 percent. (Exner n.p.)
Many Ohio residents moved out of the state of Ohio in order to escape poverty
The 2010 Census showed that Ohio grew at a near stand-still rate of 1.9 percent, and that
over the last decade has lost enough population that its representation in Congress, in the
U.S. House of Representatives, will decrease by two Congressional seats. By contrast,
Texas will gain four new Congressional seats. (Spinelli n.p.)
While Ohio’s individual and family poverty rates typically had been a little lower than the
corresponding national rates from 1989 (the first year in this report) until about 2005, after
which Ohio’s rates were nearly equal to or a little higher than the national averages.
Ohio counties with the lowest poverty rates were Delaware, Medina, Putnam, Union and
Warren, ranging from 4.5 to 6.9 percent. Ohio counties with the highest poverty rates were
Adams, Athens, Gallia, Pike and Scioto, ranging from 22.1 to 32.8 percent.
In Appalachian Ohio, a 32-county area, 16 percent of Ohioans were poor compared with
13.1 percent for the remainder of the state. There were significant increases in poverty rates
since 1999 for the vast majority of Ohio’s counties and larger cities; both in and outside of
central cities. Families with the lowest poverty rates are married couples,or have no related
children in the household, or have at least one full-time, year-round worker. Poor family
poverty rates also are higher for summary types of areas: urban, rural, and metropolitan areas as
families are more likely to receive cash assistance, but cash assistance seldom boosts families
out of poverty. Individuals with the lowest poverty rates are Asians or non-Hispanic whites, or
45-54 years of age, or have four-year college degrees or more. (Spinelli n.p.)
There appears to be good employment news for Ohioans and the nation’s poor.
McDonalds is to hire 50,000 people nationwide–including 1,000 in Northeast Ohio
McDonalds is hiring because it and other fast-casual restaurants benefitted from
the recession as cash-strapped families trimmed their dining out budgets and traded
down from other sit-down restaurants (Cho n.p.). According to a web site, glassdoor.com, a web
site where McDonald employees anonymously post their hourly wages. Cashiers and crew
member, which is probably the majority of their working staff, wage rates range from 20 cents to
50 cents above Ohio’s minimum wage, $7.40. While manager are paid approximately $2.00
more. This increase in jobs will benefit teenagers and college students. The jobs don’t
pay enough to allow a worker to pay for housing and, as such, don’t indicate an improvement in
the Ohio or Nation’s job market in the private-sector.
A third of all private-sector workers under 30 have no health insurance, up from 15
percent in 1988, according to the census data. Dim prospects push young people
here towards another government solution. Brynna Frazier, 30, said the most popular
choice among her friends was the military, which at $1,600 per month with health
insurance, was the best job around. Ms. Fraizer has not had health insurance in any
job she has ever worked, including Wal-Mart, Taco Bell and a telemarketing firm.
It is not that there are no jobs, but rather that the jobs available pay too little and
have no benefits, resulting in, as Mr. Beaver put it. “just scraping by.” (Tavernise n.p.)
“Scraping by,” is exactly what Barbara Ehrenereich did 13 years ago in her book,
Nickel and Dimed. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, Henry Holt and Company (2001).
In Nickel and Dimed, the author, Barbara Ehrenereich, sets out to live a real life
project of what life is like trying to survive on an unskilled minimum wage job.
She was fueled by the passage of federal welfare legislation which demanded that
welfare mothers obtain a job. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in
1998 – the year she started the project – it took on average nationwide, an hourly wage
of $8.89 to afford a one-bedroom apartment,and the Preamble Center for Public Policy was
estimating that the odds against a typical welfare recipient’s landing a job at such
a “living wage” were about 97 to 1(Ehrenreich3). Ehrenreich found that she could not
survive on $7.00 per hour if she wanted to live indoors (Ehrenreich229).
Just as a worker could not survive on minimum wage in 1998, similarly, a worker can’t
survive on minimum wage in 2011. The ratio of job wage to housing cost has not improved
over the last 13 years The poor still face the same issues of low-paying jobs, with no benefits,
that is insufficient to pay housing costs. While public service jobs have aided some Ohio
workers to escape this plight in the past, the recent passage of Senate Bill 5, may limit
public service jobs as an escape in the future.(Senate Bill 5 (2011)).
Ohio Anti-union Bill, Senate Bill 5, was passed in Columbus in March 2011.
The bill reduced the bargaining rights of public workers and banned strikes.
The bill restricted the collective bargaining rights of roughly 350,000 teachers, firefighters,
police officers and other public employees. Not only did the legislation ban strikes by
public employees but it also established penalties for those who do participate in walk outs.
Under the bill, unionized workers can negotiate wages, hours and certain work conditions
but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. The measure did away with automatic
pay raises and based future wage increases on merit. The legislation also set up a new
process to settle worker disputes, giving elected officials the final say in contract
disagreements. Binding arbitration, which police officers and firefighters used to resolve
contract disputes as an alternative to strikes was eliminated (Sanner n.p.).
Because of the recent passage of the bill, its total impact is not known. However,
some public employees are dreading its implementation. “We’re not living in any rich,
high-income way,” said Ms. Taylor, 37, who together with her husband, protested the
bill in Columbus this month. “What are they wanting?” she said of the bill. “For everyone
to be making minimum wage?” Ms. Taylor was washing dishes when the bill passed.
She sat down and cried when she heard the news. It does away with seniority and leaves
out any job protection for workers with longer service, putting public workers – most of
whom are not eligible for social security – at risk of losing their retirement income.
“I’m scared,” Ms. Taylor said. “You just start to think, what about this, what about that?
This is going to hurt a lot of people.” (Tavernise n.p.)