According to a news release from the Ohio Department of Commerce, the state’s minimum wage will rise from $9.30 an hour to $10.10 for non-tipped employees starting January 1st, 2023.
For tipped employees, the increase will rise from $4.65 to $5.05 per hour. This is the highest rise in the state’s minimum wage based on the approved hourly rate formula adjusted based on inflation.
Nan Whaley, a Democrat candidate for governor of Ohio, has made the minimum wage her top priority. According to Whaley, a former mayor of Dayton, the minimum wage should be increased to $15 per hour.
Whaley also stated that many families in Ohio struggle to make ends meet and are forced to make tough decisions about what expenses to pay for, such as food or car.
It shouldn’t be this way. Ohio voters joined together and demanded change, and it’s time for them to do so again. Therefore, employees in Ohio are now receiving a raise in the minimum wage. But even with this rise, wages remain too low. That’s why Whaley supports a $15 minimum wage to provide a solid job that would be sufficient to sustain a family.
Whaley is running against Mike DeWine, the current Republican governor of Ohio, who is up for reelection.
DeWine’s spokesman, Tricia McLaughlin, stated that DeWine continues to enforce current minimum wage laws on the issue of the latest state increase and whether the minimum wage should be higher.
She claimed that DeWine is “laser-focused on investing in career education, job training, and workforce development to up-skill Ohio workers; these investments are assisting tens of thousands of more Ohioans to get an education that leads to high-quality, well-paying jobs without the expense and debt of having to go to college.”
Additionally, according to McLaughlin, policies adopted by Democratic officials in Washington, D.C., supported by Whaley, are to blame for rising inflation. The American Rescue Plan Act, which generated $1.9 trillion in federal assistance, was among them.
Democratic officials have responded that previous President Donald Trump also supported government assistance under the CARES Act. DeWine also opposed the American Rescue Plan Act while it was being debated in Congress, but Democrats have pointed out that DeWine is currently spending those funds.
The minimum salary was $7.85 ten years ago. Ohio’s minimum wage was $7.00 when the constitutional adjustment based on inflation started. The increase to Ohio’s minimum wage from $7.00 took place in 2008. The Consumer Price Index is used to determine Ohio’s minimum wage rate, which is meant to increase the pace of inflation.
