What's the price for higher wage?

Byline: Paula Schleis

Oct. 16--SOME 111,000 OHIOANS ARE LIVING AS IF IT'S 1955.

When accounting for inflation, today's minimum wage of $5.15 has the same purchasing power as the 75-cent hourly minimum that the federal government set half a century ago.

That's the most recent time that the value of an hour's work fell below a buck -- and some folks are saying enough is enough.

Proponents are hoping Issue 2 will bring low-wage workers into the new millennium -- and keep them there.

The Ohio Fair Minimum Wage initiative on the Nov. 7 ballot would not only raise the minimum wage to $6.85 an hour Jan. 1, it would provide for automatic inflation-based increases.

Opponents say there are less-understood dangers buried within the ballot language that could create "a perfect storm," in the words of one, sweeping businesses out of the state.

The public already has been weighing in on the issue.

Ohio's minimum wage is the same as the federal rate -- and both have been unchanged for a decade.

A Pew Research Center poll found that nationally, 83 percent of Americans support an increase in …