COLUMBUS CROSSROADS - SEIU Local 1

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COLUMBUS AT A CROSSROADS FACTBOOK

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

While other cities in Ohio were hit hard by the recent economic downturn, Columbus's corporations were largely unaffected; working families in our city were not so lucky. While Columbus's unemployment rate remains well below the national average at 6.2%, the poverty rate in our city has nearly doubled in the past 10 years.

This is largely because low wage, no-benefit service jobs have begun to replace the good jobs of the past. Of the 10 largest occupations in Ohio, 8 do not pay enough for an adult and a child to survive without welfare. It didn't used to be this way.

Poverty wage jobs like these hurt our whole city; they're the reason the middle class is disappearing. When working people can't afford to pay their rents and mortgages, foreclosures ravage neighborhoods, crime increases, and our communities deteriorate. Increased poverty also leads to high truancy rates and a decreased property tax base, both of which have devastating effects on public school districts. This isn't happening by accident; profitable corporations that pay workers wages that qualify them for public assistance and don't pay their fair share in taxes are enriching themselves at the expense of our city and with our tax dollars.

Columbus can do better. Service workers are uniting to restore the middle class, bring good jobs to our city, and raise wages for all working people. If business leaders in our city truly want to build a healthier, more sustainable future for Columbus, they should start by paying their fair share in taxes and by ensuring that working people--not just CEOs--share in the prosperity they helped create. In this moment, the leaders of Columbus's business community have the opportunity to decide which direction our city will go.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ? 2 Prosperity for the Few ? 4

Rising Poverty ? 6

Making Ends Meet in the

Low-Wage Workforce ? 6

Invisible Labor

6

First Responders Living in Poverty

7

Profiting at our expense ? 8

Rising Inequality ? 9

Columbus at a Crossroads:

What Kind of City Will We Be? ? 10

Endnotes ? 11

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PROSPERITY FOR THE FEW

Columbus's economy remains largely unaffected by the Great Recession. While other cities in Ohio, like Cleveland and Cincinnati, were hit hard and are still feeling the effects of the downturn, Columbus has been hailed as the #1 "up & coming" high-tech city by Forbes.1 But it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say that the city is prospering. While business booms and the unemployment rate in Columbus continues to drop, the number of working people in our city living in poverty is rising,2 as is reliance on public assistance programs like food stamps.3 Columbus can't be a world class city if its residents are working hard but increasingly poor; and we can't attract new businesses if working people have no buying power.

It's a privileged and wealthy few who are reaping the benefits of Columbus's sustained economic growth. The Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the Columbus area profited over $5 billion in 2012, while their CEOs took home over $133 million in compensation. JPMorgan Chase, the largest private employer4 in the Columbus area, profited over $21.1 billion dollars last year.5

This should be good news for everyone in Columbus. But unfortunately, poverty in our city has risen right alongside soaring corporate profits and CEO pay. In fact, the concentrated poverty rate in Columbus has nearly doubled since 2000.

COLUMBUS AREA FORTUNE 1000 COMPANIES6

FORTUNE 1000 COMPANIES Abercrombie & Fitch American Electric Power Big Lots Bob Evans Farms Cardinal Health Greif Momentive Specialty Chemicals Huntington Bancshares Limited Brands Mettler-Toledo International Nationwide Pacer International Retail Ventures (Merged with DSW in 2011) Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. Worthington Industries

CEO Michael Jeffries Michael Morris Steven Fishman

Steven Davis George Barrett Michael Gasser Craig Morrison Stephen Steinour Leslie Wexner Olivier A. Filliol Steve Rasmussen Daniel W. Avramovich Jay L. Schottenstein James Hagedorn John P. McConnell

Total

CEO BASIC COMPENSATION 20127

$48,069,500 $9,186,910 $11,924,700 $3,634,210 $11,209,700 $4,421,540 Not public $6,445,710 $19,230,500 $5,379,640 Not public $1,842,920 $2,205,040 $5,484,410 $3,974,710

$133,009,490

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COLUMBUS AREA FORTUNE 1000 PROFITS8

COMPANY Cardinal Health American Electric Power Limited Brands Big Lots Momentive Specialty Chemicals Huntington Bancshares Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. Abercrombie & Fitch Greif Worthington Industries Retail Ventures (Merged with DSW in 2011) Bob Evans Farms Mettler-Toledo International Pacer International

Total

PROFIT $1,069,000,000 $1,395,000,000

$850,000,000 $207,064,000 $118,000,000 $641,022,000 $106,500,000 $127,658,000 $126,100,000 $125,353,000 $174,788,000

$72,850,000 $290,847,000

$4,300,000

$5,308,482,000

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