By Kennedi Combs
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Ohio's minimum wage is currently $1.55 more than the federal minimum wage, at $8.80 an hour, and yet many Ohioans are searching for better-paying jobs.

Tamra Barth earned $11 an hour working as a baker at The Pink Bandana Bakery, a small business in Mentor, Ohio, for three years until recently, when Barth decided to search for a job with a bigger company and higher wages.

"The fact that my paycheck is enough to pay my mortgage without relying on my roommate's rent is huge," she said. "Owning a house, having even just a few extra dollars if something breaks or if you need to buy a weed whacker, I now have it instead of needing to save and budget for all of those minor things."

In recent years, the topic of raising the minimum wage has resulted in heated debates among politicians. Democrats believe that raising the minimum wage would increase economic activity and spur job growth. But many Republicans believe it would force businesses to lay off employees to cope with the costs of higher wages.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage argue wages have not kept up with inflation; opponents believe it would increase the price of consumer goods.

Congressional Democrats recently introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2025.

At Ohio's current $8.80 minimum wage, a worker makes $18,096 annually. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator, the cost of living for one adult in Ohio is $13.16, a $4.46 difference from the current minimum wage. The cost of living for one adult and one child is $28.58, a $19.88 difference.

In the Ohio Legislature, Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-Cincinnati, and Sen. Hearcel F. Craig, D-Columbus, introduced Senate Bill 51 on March 10, 2021, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 in increments by 2027, and keep pace with inflation after that. The bill has not advanced beyond the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee.

"Myself and Senator Thomas gave sponsor testimony on March 10 and it has not received another hearing," said Sen. Craig in an email. "We offered our bill as an amendment during the state budget process, but it was not accepted. We continue to fight for this important life-changing and uplifting legislation."

Michael Shields, a researcher for Policy Matters Ohio, has studied how raising the minimum wage would positively affect Ohio's overall economy of Ohio.

"I found in my most recent report that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 would inject about $4.9 billion into the Ohio economy every year." Shields said. "If we include tipped workers into that, so that everyone is paid the same fair minimum wage, that would add another $1.2 billion. So, $6.1 billion in benefits from raising the minimum wage and including all types of workers."

However, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Ohio's leading small business association, has found through surveys that a $15 minimum wage would:

1) increase prices by 23%
2) eliminate or reduce the hiring of entry-level or teenage labor by 17%.
3) decrease the work hours of current hourly employees by 14%.
4) eliminate or slow business expansion plans by 13%.

"Ohio entrepreneurs were decimated by the pandemic, many seeing revenue losses of 25% year-over-year, and some even over 50%," said Roger Gieger, NFIB executive director in Ohio, in a report about a survey of NFIB's members released in March.

"As we work our way back to a solid economic footing, a hike in the minimum wage would be an additional obstacle for small businesses to try and overcome. Fundamentally, small business owners believe that wages and benefits should be agreed upon by an employee and their employer, not a one-size-fits-all edict from Washington, D.C., or Columbus."

Shields counters small businesses will benefit in other ways if the minimum wage is raised.

"We also see other benefits, like reduced turnover, which reduces recruitment and training costs," he said. "We see improved morale and productivity as a result of that. Workers' ability to be effective at work can really improve from things like having more reliable transit, simply having the resources to cover basic needs, and making those more effective at work. So, there's a lot of benefits that businesses reap as well."

Research shows raising the minimum wage will also help narrow the gender and racial pay gaps. African Americans and Latinos make 10-15% less than their white counterparts with the same job characteristics. Raising the hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour would add $3,500 annually to the income of a year-round worker. The majority of workers who would benefit from the raise are adult women, who make up 6 out of 10 (or 59%) of minimum-wage workers.

Tamra Barth said being paid a higher wage has definitely improved her quality of life. After leaving Pink Bandana in May 2021, she began working at Aldi's, which starts employees at $14 an hour.

"In my previous job, I guess you could say I always treated it as if it was my own bakery and small business," she said. "In doing that, I sacrificed things like breaks and overtime. Now, working for a larger corporation and being paid for every hour that I'm there - being given breaks, and the opportunity to grow instead of always settling for what it is - I think, as a human being, you automatically feel more valued."

Yet, despite the benefits, small Ohio business owners are concerned they won't be able to handle the major economic deviation that raising the minimum wage to $15 will bring.

Barth's situation is an example of their pressing concern - larger corporations have the resources to pay their employees a higher wage. Small business owners insist if they have to compete, it could force them out of business.

At the Pink Bandana Bakery, owner Kathy Robinson believes larger organizations have an advantage over small businesses when it comes to wages.

"I think big companies, like Walmart for example - places that have huge, vast networks of employees and infrastructure - [raising the minimum wage] makes perfect sense," she said. "But small businesses like mine, depend on if people come. If people come and they buy, and if you retain your customers, you're in good shape."

Robinson goes on to explain how fragile small business finances can be, which was recently proven during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When the COVID crisis hit, my whole goal was to obviously stay in business, but to keep all my employees employed," she said. "We struggled, but we made it work. The problem is, if I had to pay my very small staff of 6 people $15 an hour, I probably wouldn't be able to stay in business."

Another possible downside con of raising the minimum wage is that small businesses may resort to cutting their payroll or issuing cutbacks in order to afford to pay their employees more, resulting in fewer jobs.

"The increase in salary would have to be reflected in what I make for people," Robinson explained. "In my business and in many small businesses, you could price yourself out of the market. Why would somebody pay $100 for a small cake when they can get a small cake at a grocery store for $15?"

She added she wishes she could pay her workers a higher wage.

"It's not that I don't want to pay my people $15 an hour. I would love to be in a position where I can do that," she said. "I think that $15 is not even enough, to be honest, but it would be very difficult for a business like mine to stay in business without it totally impacting how I do business externally. We would have to make some very hard and tough decisions on how we would structure our employment situation in order to pay people that."

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


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Washington joins a handful of states to do away with mandatory meetings for employees on political or religious matters.

Sometimes known as captive audience meetings, the gatherings were seen as a way for employers to give their opinions on subjects like unionization, and held potential consequences for employees who didn't attend. Lawmakers passed a bill this session allowing workers to skip the meetings without repercussions.

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, a sponsor of the bill, said we live in a divided society where emotions run high on political topics.

"This bill simply protects employees to have a real choice on whether or not to attend a meeting called by their boss to be told about some political or religious issue," Keiser explained.

Keiser pointed out the legislation is nonpartisan. For instance, employers could not force employees to attend anti-union meetings, but also could not force them to attend a meeting about the importance of reproductive rights. The bill takes effect June 6.

Keiser noted the bill likely got across the finish line this session because of the uptick in union organizing and support for labor. She added there are widely known stories of Starbucks managers, for example, requiring employees to attend anti-union meetings while the employees organized the workplace.

"Employees have been forced to attend meetings to listen to the boss or the employer basically tell them why they shouldn't join a union," Keiser observed.

Washington is the sixth state to pass a law prohibiting attendance at captive audience meetings. Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota and New York have passed similar laws in recent years. Oregon passed a law allowing workers to skip such meetings without repercussions in 2010.


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A bill vetoed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin would have raised the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour starting in 2026.

While the bill moved out of committee and the General Assembly, it did so on party-line votes. Youngkin opposed the bill, saying it could hurt small businesses and some restaurants.

Jay Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said it was disappointing to see the measure vetoed.

"Wages are way too low. People cannot afford housing and food and everything else," Speer pointed out. "It's a disappointment that they can't raise the minimum wage so people can survive. I mean, it's long overdue."

Passing the bill was part of a 2020 minimum-wage increase requiring a reauthorization to bring it up to $15. A state study found a person has to make at least $14.55 an hour to afford the cheapest place to live while only spending one-third of his or her income on housing. The current minimum wage in Virginia is $12 an hour, but around 500,000 Virginians make $12 or less.

Youngkin also vetoed a bill ending exemptions from Virginia's minimum-wage requirements for farmworkers or temporary foreign workers.

Kim Bobo, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center on Public Policy, said it was not as impactful since most farmworkers make more than the minimum wage. But she said the exemption remains for another reason.

"The only reason farmworkers continue to be exempted in Virginia is racism," Bobo contended. "That's why they're exempted. And, we should just change that, like there's no reason not to. It really does not affect that many workers in Virginia."

Youngkin and other legislators with a farming background said the bill would hinder farmers' ability to turn a profit.

New York restaurant workers need to know their rights to better navigate their workplaces. A new report finds high rates of what it calls "occupational segregation" in the restaurant industry, which can relegate some people to lower-paying jobs.

Workers' rights organizations are counteracting this with training programs. Alima Iskakova, a server for Exquisite Staffing, a catering company, said the CHOW training from Restaurant Opportunities Centers United is helping her.

"Since I completed this training course, I am more confident when it comes to job interviews," she said. "I am more confident - like, when it comes to these types of interviews, plus with all my experience and the knowledge that I got from ROC United, I have a higher income."

She was also trained in safe food handling, OSHA certification and other need-to-know information about the restaurant industry. These courses are available in several cities beyond New York.

The report also notes that, unlike training offered by organizations such as the National Restaurant Association, these courses prioritize developing restaurant workers' power to support individual career development.

The report says racism and sexism abound in the restaurant industry. White men make up a majority of higher-earning positions, such as bartenders.

Although these training courses are helpful, Iskakova noteed that not knowing English can be a disadvantage. She said other cultural differences can make this work challenging.

"In the hospitality industry, even like when people come here as an immigrant, they don't know the rules, they don't know the laws," she said. "And ROC United, they help us to do the cover letter, resume. There are certain things - like, there is a difference."

Another challenge she encountered was the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Iskakova said her work has been interesting, but she's got ambitions outside of food service. Along with photography, she's a communications major at CUNY.


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