A Raise Is Granted

Ohio Raises the Minimum Wage in 2020

A Raise Is Granted

Sean Nickol, Staff Writer

There has been good news for all workers who are currently earning minimum wage, and that is that starting January 1, 2020, Ohio will raise the minimum wage to $8.70 an hour, according to Journal-News. The minimum wage in Ohio is currently $8.55 an hour. The minimum wage for tipped workers will increase from $4.30 to $4.35 an hour. Although, for 14 and 15-year-olds, they’ll still earn $7.25 per hour for minimum wage. However, working a 40 hour week for a year, earning $18,096 with the new minimum wage amount will still keep a family of three and above below the federal poverty line. 

This bump can be attributed to the constitutional amendment voted on in 2006 by the citizens of Ohio that raises the minimum wage in the state each year based on the Consumer Price Index that increases it to meet inflation. 

In 2016, Cleveland proposed a campaign to increase the wage to $15. The Cleveland City Council, however, proposed a phased approach to getting $15, starting with $12 in 2018. Cleveland’s mayor Frank Jackson and Council President Kevin Kelley were against the idea. Both men were worried that with a boost in the minimum wage, some businesses would leave the city. At the end of the year, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed a bill that would prohibit communities from raising the minimum wage above that of the state, according to Square Up.

Although over the years, Cleveland did succeed to raise the minimum wage as Fifth Third Bank raised it to $15 in 2018 and then raised it again in 2019 to $18 according to 53.com. “With $15, I feel I am financially stable, and everything is OK,” Tasha Peraza, a Fifth Third customer service representative in Northeast Ohio said. “With the $18, I feel like it will put me in a better spot to save and plan for my future. Financially, there will be less stress,” Peraza told Cleveland.com.

Ohio though is still behind Michigan who has minimum wage of $9.45 per hour. Ohio and Michigan still have a higher minimum wage of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky who all have a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.