skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Ohio Minimum Wage Workers Cheated into Poverty, Report Says

play audio
Play

Thursday, May 18, 2017   

COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than 14 percent of Ohioans live in poverty – a situation that new research suggests could be avoided for some if they weren't being cheated out of pay.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) examined reports of minimum-wage theft in the 10 most populous states, including Ohio.

Among the states, the report found each year that 2.4 million workers are being paid less than minimum wage, amounting to more than $8 billion in lost wages annually.

Report co-author David Cooper, a senior economic analyst with EPI, says nearly 1 in 5 of these workers live in poverty.

"If every worker who reported being paid less than the minimum wage simply got brought up, 160,000 fewer workers would be in poverty,” he states. “That's not going to be a silver bullet that changes the whole poverty landscape, but that does mean a lot more folks who are able to afford their basic needs without having to turn to basic assistance programs."

In Ohio, 5.5 percent of workers reported minimum-wage violations totaling $600 million a year, which ranks the state second behind Florida among the 10 states surveyed.

Cooper notes wage theft has a disproportionate impact on already vulnerable populations.

"It tends to be younger workers,” he points out. “It's majority women. People of color tend to be more likely to be victims of wage theft, and also immigrant workers.

“Workers who were not born in the U.S. tend to experience higher rates of wage theft than U.S.-born workers."

Cooper says research shows tougher wage-theft violation penalties would be beneficial.

"When you really make it more than a slap on the wrist, that has a deterrent effect,” he stresses. “The other piece of it is enforcement.

“Not only do you have to have strong penalties but you also have to have people out there policing business activity, and unfortunately, in a lot of states, there just isn't a lot of resources that are dedicated to policing wage theft."

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division investigates minimum-wage violations. But Cooper notes the agency is stretched thin, with nearly the same number of investigators it had almost seven decades ago.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded by the George Gund Foundation.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021