Income disparity divides Columbus

Dead-end, low-wage jobs have crippling effect

Columbus is often compared with Austin. Young cities, vibrant and tech savvy, they are rapidly growing and economically prosperous.

They also share a dubious distinction as the two most economically segregated communities in the United States among metro areas of more than 1 million people.

In a three-day special report that begins today on Page One, The Dispatch “Dividing Lines” series explores the effects of the concentration of wealth in distinct neighborhoods and of poverty in other, sometimes adjacent neighborhoods.

One important effect is that most of us don’t fully appreciate the challenges faced by those who live on the other side of the line — especially if we’re living on the comfortable side of the line.

Those who pay close attention as they drive near or through these neighborhoods might have a surface-level sense of the segregation, but a deep dive into both statistics and the lives of the people represented by those numbers shows a stark and frightening reality.

In one neighborhood west of I-71 in Clintonville, the median annual household income is $100,284. Just east of there, on the other side of I-71, the annual household income is $27,702.

That number largely represents the working poor — people who might spend an hour or more on a bus to get to a food-service or warehouse job that pays $9 an hour for 20 hours a week.

In Columbus, the state’s only large city showing steady growth, the well-earned image we project as a place of prosperity masks the misery of thousands of hardworking families that are barely making ends meet and see little hope for advancement.

Collectively, Ohioans have celebrated a significant drop in the unemployment rate following the Great Recession. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were created as the Ohio economy improved. But many of them were low-wage jobs that replaced higherpaying jobs, particularly in manufacturing.

And that is reflected in the poverty statistics. While the unemployment rate improved, the poverty rate that surged during the recession remains unchanged.

Research conducted by Ohio State University faculty and students for The Dispatch shows in numbers and maps the striking contrasts from neighborhood to neighborhood. Reporters and photographers for The Dispatch then went to those neighborhoods to bring you the stories behind the numbers — about the people who work hard and still live in poverty.

“You see the intensity of the issue,” said Ohio State professor Jason Reece, reflecting on the income disparity. “Is this a permanent underclass that’s going to be created in this community?”

And we ask this question: If the people living in those neighborhoods continue to work hard but don’t rise above poverty, will these neighborhoods continue to struggle with crime and blight, higher rates of infant mortality and reduced life expectancy, and the need for public assistance?

We’re talking about the Linden area, which the mayor has rightly targeted as one that needs significant help. And the Hilltop. And the South Side.

The Dividing Lines series raises significant questions about what this segregation by class and race means for the future.

A study by economists from Harvard University and the University of Southern California Berkeley in 2013 found that low-income children in metro Columbus had a 5.1 percent chance of reaching the top fifth of household incomes by age 30, making Columbus one of the leastpromising places in the nation for kids who start near the bottom to climb the financial ladder.

If we remain divided, can they achieve the American dream?