http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/labor-day-marks-rough-time-for-ohios-struggling-economy-284036.html
By William Hershey and Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writers
Kim Clay earned about $60,000 a year as an electrician at General Motors’ Moraine assembly plant before the plant closed in December.
His nine-month search for a new job has turned up nothing, and he and his wife Vanessa now get by on food stamps.
“I’m at the end of my rope,” Clay, 48, of Dayton said last week.
On the eve of Labor Day 2009, the annual “State of Working Ohio” report from Policy Matters Ohio finds more workers at the end of their ropes.
Wages are falling and unemployment is at 11.2 percent, a 26-year high. Ohio’s 2008 inflation-adjusted median wage — now $15.04 an hour — trails the federal median by 70 cents, the largest gap the state has seen.
In 1979, Ohio’s inflation-adjusted median stood at $15.83, $1.28 an hour above the national median .
High-paying jobs like Clay’s continue to disappear, said Amy Hanauer, author of the report. “I think the loss of manufacturing jobs has played a big part in the median income drop,” Hanauer said, adding that pay freezes and wage cuts have also played roles.
Ohio workers now earn less than workers in most neighboring states, the study found. Wages in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana exceed Ohio’s, while West Virginia and Kentucky still have lower averages.
Meanwhile, Clay sends out five or six resumes a day but is not optimistic.
“The situation in Dayton with the jobs? There aren’t any jobs,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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