Four of the top 10 most common occupations in Greater Cleveland pay so little that the typical worker’s annual pay qualifies them for assistance programs such as food stamps, according to a recent Policy Matters Ohio report.
The typical, or median, worker in each of the four occupations made less than $15 an hour, according to the “Still Working for Too Little in Ohio” report by the liberal nonprofit policy research institute. Seven of the top 10 jobs pay less than the living wage. The hourly living wage in Greater Cleveland for a single adult with no children is $19.66, according to the Living Wage Calculator by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They are making near poverty level wages. These do not reflect the vital work that these folks are doing. Some of the lowest paid workers in our state and Cleveland are doing really vital work that we all depend on, including home health and personal aides.
Policy Matters Ohio economist Michael Shields on four of the top 10 most common jobs in Greater Cleveland paying so little.
Registered nurses ranked first among jobs paying middle-class wages
The bright spot is that the two most common occupations in Greater Cleveland pay solidly middle-class wages and are among the metro area’s fastest growing jobs. Registered nurses ranked first and general and operations managers ranked second. The typical registered nurse made $38.58 an hour and the typical employee in the general and operations managers classification had hourly wages of $46.89. Policy Matters based its report on 2023 federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The four jobs paying so little that the typical worker could qualify for assistance include fast food and counter workers, which ranked third out of 10. Cashiers ranked fourth, retail salespersons ranked sixth, and home health and personal care aides ranked eighth.
Policy Matters looked at how many of the top 10 occupations had annual incomes below 130% of the poverty rate, the threshold for qualifying for programs such as food assistance. This comes to $32,318 for a family of three. It means that the median incomes for fast food and counter workers, cashiers, retail salespersons and home health and personal care aides would qualify these workers for assistance programs.
“They are making near poverty level wages,” said economist Michael Shields, the report’s author. “These do not reflect the vital work that these folks are doing. Some of the lowest paid workers in our state and Cleveland are doing really vital work that we all depend on, including home health and personal aides.”
He said one of the ways Ohio can address low pay is by increasing the minimum wage, which is currently $10.45. It is likely that a $15 minimum wage measure will be on November’s ballot. Also, a recently introduced bill in the state legislature seeks to raise the minimum wage to $15.
See: $15 minimum wage: The differences between Ohio’s competing proposals
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Fast food and counter workers in Greater Cleveland saw their wages increase by 18%
Before the pandemic, Shields said, often at least half of the 10 most common occupations in Greater Cleveland’s yearly rankings were low-wage jobs. The pay was so low that the typical worker qualified for assistance programs.
During the pandemic, here and nationally, low-wage workers saw their pay increase since many employers had difficulty filling positions. “In stark contrast to prior decades, low-wage workers experienced dramatically fast real wage growth between 2019 and 2023,” a recent report by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute found.
For example, the Policy Matters report found that typical fast food and counter workers in Greater Cleveland saw their wages increase by 18% between 2019 and 2023. The 20% median hourly wage increase for stockers and order fillers brought their pay from under $15 to $17.71.
The stockers and order fillers classification, in which jobs increased 69% in Greater Cleveland between 2019 and 2023, was the second fastest growing occupation. The general and operations managers classification, in which jobs increased 116%, ranked first. Registered nurses jobs grew by 20%, ranking the occupation third for growth.
The stockers and order fillers classification was the only one of the top three fastest growing occupations in which median wages also grew. The median wage for general and operations managers fell by 19%, and it fell by 2% for registered nurses. Shields said there are possibly a few reasons why this occurred, including pay not keeping pace with high inflation. Growing occupations often have less experienced workers, who tend to make lower wages. Wages in the general and operations managers category might have dipped because of employers re-classifying lower-paying positions into the category.