Protecting working people from wage theft

• Ohio employers steal from an estimated 213,000 workers a year by paying them less than the state or federal minimum wage.
• If wage theft victims stayed on their job the full year, the total underpayment of wages to these Ohio workers would be $611 million each year.
• While 3.8% of all Ohio workers have wages stolen each year, employers steal from 18.4% of workers paid $11.44 per hour or less.
• Victims of minimum wage violations are underpaid an average of $55 per week, 24% of the weekly earnings owed to them. If they work year-round, they lose, on average, $2,873 per year and are paid only $9,011 in annual wages.
• Women make up about three in five victims who are paid below the minimum wage.
• Hispanic workers were 74% more likely to become victims than white counterparts, while Ohioans of other races — about three quarters of whom are Asian — were 51% more likely. Black workers were about as likely to indicate wages below the minimum wage as white workers, but Black workers spent more hours working for employers who stole from them and lost more wages, overall.
• About 54,000 parents are paid below the minimum wage each year. Together they are raising about 108,000 children under 18 years old.
• Low-paid workers in all industries are vulnerable, but half the wage theft cases occurred in the leisure and hospitality industry.

Everyone who works should be paid their full wages for all the hours they put in. Too often in Ohio, employers steal...

Read Full Story: https://www.policymattersohio.org/research-policy/fair-economy/work-wages/hon...