Issue Position: Economic & Workforce Development

Issue Position

Eastern Ohio has been a powerful economic engine for the U.S. economy. Thankfully, we are once again seeing economic and workforce opportunity increase due to demand for our energy resources. Right now, numerous organizations are aggressively promoting our resources to outside business interests, working to secure world-scale investments here at home. State government's role should be to empower and work alongside these organizations to positively impact our future.

We are used to a boom and bust cycle. To avoid this cycle in the shale industry, we must recruit companies who will offer long-term, sustainable employment for our people -- not just jobs in the extraction and gathering of natural resources. We need significant local investment from the petrochemical and plastics industries so these resources are in consistently high demand. This will also ensure that OUR people are employed in OUR communities, rather than the end-use of our resource employing those in the Gulf of Mexico or in Canada.

By the same token, it is OUR duty to prepare our workforce to meet the hiring demands these large scale employers can create. I believe we need to remove the stigma associated with educational paths other than four year college degrees. Yes, let's educate all the engineers we can, while promoting trades just as strongly. The skills gap is a real thing in 2018.

In short, we need to make skilled labor cool again. These jobs support a family, pay the bills and provide for a good life in Eastern Ohio.

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