COLUMBUS, Ohio — Attorney General Dave Yost rejected a petition to let voters decide if the Ohio minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour.
Ohio increases the state minimum wage annually due to the cost of living. With inflation, that means wages starting Jan. 1, 2023 for non-tipped workers will move from $9.30 an hour to $10.10. Tipped workers will move from $4.65 to $5.05.
A living wage calculator created by MIT shows Ohio is falling behind in comparison to about half of the other states. For one adult and one child, the adequate amount of pay per hour would be more than $30, which is more than three times the state's minimum wage.
"It's 2022, a lot of things are very expensive now," said Lil Lemont, a Columbus resident. "It's expensive to live, to eat."
Lemont and other Ohioans, like Frederick Pettey, said $10.10 an hour is not nearly high enough.
"I do feel like the minimum wage should be $15 an hour because I feel like people are working hard nowadays," Lemont added.
Pettey agreed, stating that this should have already been done.
"It would be perfect to put that in place and maybe it will lower the crime rate," Pettey said.
But Lemont's dreams of a $15 minimum wage in the state aren't coming anytime soon. Yost rejected the “Raise the Wage Ohio” amendment, stating the language was unclear.
Yost's job is to determine if the petition language is "fair and truthful" and he was unable to do so, his response to the petition said. It is not uncommon for a petition to...
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