An inaccurate report cited in a Dispatch article purported that a wage rate twice the state minimum wage is necessary to pay rent in Ohio (“Rent often too big a bite, April 15). What the article failed to acknowledge is that only 15 percent of minimum-wage earners are the primary breadwinners for their families.

The vast majority of minimum-wage earners are teens living at home (41 percent) and second-wage earners in a household (21 percent).

Advocating a higher minimum-wage policy to address rental rates in the state would be severely misguided. In fact, decades of economic research have shown that mandated minimum-wage increases spike job losses, particularly among vulnerable groups such as adults without a high-school diploma. This job loss is exacerbated in a weak economy.

Those concerned about whether the working poor have enough money for housing should instead support increasing the earned-income tax credit, which delivers 94 percent of its benefits to poor families without eliminating job opportunities for the most vulnerable workers.

KRISTEN LOPEZ EASTLICK
Senior economic analyst
Employment Policies Institute
Washington, D.C.