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In 2010, 172,000 hourly workers in Ohio had earnings at or below the federal minimum wage, representing a 21 percent increase from 2009 and a 118 percent jump from 2007 when the recession began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re creating jobs, but most of the jobs we’re seeing created now are at the very high end or the very low end,” said Robert Premus, professor of economics at Wright State University. “We’re not creating those jobs in the middle that we once referred to as “good jobs,” paying 15, 18 or 19 dollars an hour.”