The small 2023 minimum wage increase directly increases yearly earnings for 84,000 of Ohio’s lowest-earning workers, I strongly feel that the rise is nothing more than the seeming inflation adjustment. 

Low-wage workers who support their children, working full-time and throughout the year, won’t be raised out of poverty by this modest change. The inefficiency of the 2023 raise is reflected in the fact that six out of the ten most common jobs in Ohio pay so little that families with three or more members are compelled to depend on food assistance.

Nine cities in Ohio have over 50% of children living in poverty. In 39 other cities, the child poverty rate is at least 30%. I don’t think you can expect these families to pull themselves out of poverty when the minimum wage doesn’t even equate to a livable wage!

The inflation adjustments to the minimum wage limit in Ohio were designed to help female workers. 70% of the minimum-wage workers are women. Most of these workers earn tipped salaries. Does the 15-cent raise pull female workers in Ohio, who work full-time, year-round jobs, out of poverty? No, especially if they have children. Their family income will be below federal poverty lines, even with inflation adjustments. 

According to the State of Poverty in Ohio Report, 12.7% of homes live in proverty. No matter how hard these families work, these low wages are just not high enough to raise families out of poverty.

Poverty in Ohio has always been a complicated subject to assess as there are many important factors, like age, gender, and race, to consider. The state of Ohio has consistently failed to help poverty-struck people.

Refusal to raise the minimum wage to a degree where the average Ohioan’s annual income is over the federal poverty line has a long-term effect on the state. These long-term effects are displayed in the state’s education levels, the health conditions of minimum wage workers, their food habits, etc.

As long as people have limited access to vital resources, poverty will trigger civil liberty issues. Minimum wage workers are more likely to be imprisoned and less likely to afford proper healthcare. Hence, the cycle of poverty continues to thrive in Ohio.

Yes, Ohio voters did approve yearly regulations to the state’s minimum wage in 2006. Fourteen years later, it is clear that the directives mentioned in that constitutional amendment are not rooted in economic reality. The minimum wage should at least guarantee food security! 

It’s high time that this broken system of incremental inflation adjustments is corrected. Therefore, the 2023 minimum wage increase was not enough to help people struggling with poverty.