'Significantly Different:' Ohioans earn wages far below those of their peers nationwide

Average Ohioans are earning less than they did a year ago and are being paid significantly less than their peers nationwide.

The week before Labor Day, though, it was announced unemployment rates were slightly lower in the Buckeye State than they were in the rest of the nation.

Ohio’s unemployment rate in July of 2023 was 3.3% while the national unemployment rate was 3.5%, according to a news release provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Numbers in the news release show that from Aug. 13-19, Ohioans filed 17,994 initial unemployment claims, which was 5,893 fewer than the previous week.

Despite having fewer residents per capita listed as unemployed, Ohio's labor force participation rate in July was just 62.1%, a half-percent less than the national labor force participation rate of 62.6% during the same month.

Average weekly wages have dropped in Ohio

Those who are drawing paychecks in Ohio are bringing home about $19 less each week, on average, than they were a year ago.

Average weekly wages fell in Ohio by 1.6% from $1,222 in December 2021 to $1,203 this past December, according to data listed online by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The greatest wage decrease reported nationwide was in California, where workers lost an average of 6.9% ($124), dropping from $1,803 to $1,679 per week.

Workers won the most in West Virginia with a wage jump of 1.5% ($16), raising their average weekly paychecks from $1,051 to $1,067.

Mansfield wages 'significantly different from the national average'

The average hourly wages for workers in Mansfield was "significantly different from the national average," the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported as of May 2022.

Paychecks in Mansfield had an "average (mean) hourly wage of $22.98 in May 2022, 23% below the nationwide average of $29.76," the report reads.

The Mansfield occupational group closest to the national average, "farming, fishing and forestry," only had a wage 3% below expected at $17.59 locally compared to $18.21 nationally.

The most divergent Mansfield occupational group was "arts, design, entertainment, sports and media," which came in 45% below the national average at $20.13 per hour versus $36.78.

It's a group of workers that Aurelio Villa Luna Diaz, who is on Mansfield City Council, said society needs to pay more fairly, especially in Richland County.

"Artists and our creative community have been largely instrumental with the revitalization and excitement of the city," Diaz said. "They need to be compensated and recognized like any other profession. We expect them to always lend their talents, but would never expect that from other professionals."

Average wages in other Ohio cities of interest were: Toledo at $26 (13% below the national average), Lima at $24.88 (16% below the national average) and Cleveland at $28.62 (4% below the national average).

Ohio women see slight drop in relative wages

Women who work full time in Ohio have seen a reduction in wages compared to those of men doing the same jobs, according to data listed online by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"In 2021, Ohio women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings of $872, or 81.5% of the $1,070 median usual weekly earnings of their male counterparts," the report reads.

That figure was four-tenths of a percent less than the 81.9% reported in 2020.

"Nationwide, women earned $912 per week, or 83.1 percent of the $1,097 median for men," the report reads.

"In Ohio, the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio has ranged from a low of 71.0 percent in 1999 to a high of 83.6 percent in 2011," the report continued.

A closer look at wages for Mansfield's major occupational groups

Workers in Mansfield had an average hourly wage of $22.98 in May 2022, 23% below the nationwide average of $29.76, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jobs are sorted into 22 different major occupational groups for compensation analysis:

• Management: $63.08 U.S., $45.24 Mansfield, -28%

• Business and financial operations: $41.39 U.S., $31.12 Mansfield, -25%

• Computer and mathematical: $51.99 U.S., $35.90 Mansfield, -31%

• Architecture and engineering: $45.52 U.S., $35.82 Mansfield, -21%

• Life, physical, and social science: $40.21 U.S., $31.87 Mansfield, -21%

• Community and social service: $26.81 U.S., $22.47 Mansfield, -16%

• Legal: $59.87 U.S., $35.89 Mansfield, -40%

• Educational, instruction and library: $30.41 U.S., $28.60 Mansfield, -6%

• Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media: $36.78 U.S., $20.13 Mansfield, -45%

• Healthcare practitioners and technical: $46.52 U.S., $40.13 Mansfield, -14%

• Healthcare support: $17.10 U.S., $15.31 Mansfield, -10%

• Protective service: $25.97 U.S., $24.70 Mansfield, -5%

• Food preparation and serving related: $15.45 U.S., $13.19 Mansfield, -15%

• Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance: $17.26 U.S., $15.41 Mansfield, -11%

• Personal care and service: $17.41 U.S., $14.96 Mansfield, -14%

• Sales and related: $24.22 U.S., $18.92 Mansfield, -22%

• Office and administrative support: $21.90 U.S., $18.85 Mansfield, -14%

• Farming, fishing and forestry: $18.21 U.S., $17.59 Mansfield, -3%

• Construction and extraction: $28.08 U.S., $25.13 Mansfield, -11%

• Installation, maintenance and repair: $26.77 U.S., $24.07 Mansfield, -10%

• Production: $21.81 U.S., $19.57 Mansfield, -10%

• Transportation and material moving: $21.12 U.S., $18.27 Mansfield, -13%

ztuggle@gannett.com

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Twitter: @zachtuggle

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Local Ohio workers earn significantly less than their peers nationwide