Last Thursday, the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies issued its annual report on poverty, “The State of Poverty in Ohio: 2004.” According to the report, Ohio lost 4.3 percent of its jobs during the latest recession, while the United States lost 1.5 percent of its jobs. Between 2000 and 2003, Ohio lost 233,488 jobs, or one out of every 23 jobs in Ohio.
This has had staggering results on many counties in Ohio. Cuyahoga, Franklin, Montgomery, Lucas and Trumbull counties all lost more than 10,000 jobs in the last three years, with Cuyahoga losing more than 64,000 jobs. In the last census, Ohio had a 10.6 percent poverty rate.
Ohio’s struggles with poverty and unemployment are symptomatic of the United States’ economic struggles of late. Since January 2001, 2.3 million jobs have been lost, and various attempts to reverse this trend including tax cuts and various job creation bills – have not been as successful as hoped. Last year’s Economic Report of the President predicted 1.7 million jobs would be created, but by the end of the year, 53,000 jobs had been lost.
The economic problems America is suffering have deeper roots than job outsourcing and sluggish growth. The very roots of what makes an economy successful are under attack.
During a Jan. 20 meeting of the House of Representatives, Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, discussed the effects of the economic downturn on his state and district, which includes a section of northeast Ohio from Lorain to Akron. He said one out of every six manufacturing jobs in Ohio have been lost. He also said the average yearly wage of a created job was estimated to be $35,000, compared to the $43,000 average wage of jobs lost in the last three years. To put it simply, manufacturing jobs are being replaced by lower-paying service jobs.
If America wants a more lasting cure and not just a Band-Aid for its economic woes, it needs to work on bolstering the American manufacturing industry. Companies that manufacture the majority of their goods and services in America need to be more greatly rewarded for their efforts and encouraged to pay their workers fair wages. Efforts should also be made to reduce America’s reliance on imported goods and services, as well as improve the plight of workers in countries who produce goods far cheaper than America ever can.
Americans have to make some sacrifices to keep the economy going. “Made in the USA” has not been a popular slogan for a while, but if the economy wants to make a more permanent improvement, it should be. Americans need to be willing to spend a little more on American products if they can afford to, rather than buy what’s cheapest at Wal-Mart.
Americans also need to be more willing to take some of those tougher jobs created by the economy and be willing to work their way up the job ladder to bigger and better positions. If the government, corporate and public sectors can work together to promote American manufacturing interests above those of overseas companies, the economy will see more permanent gains.
