Ohio Lost 258,000 Jobs in the Last Year Alone

(Columbus) - Gov. Ted Strickland's "Turnaround Ohio" plan continues to unravel as the latest unemployment numbers show the state lost more than 258,000 jobs in the last year alone, with August marking the fourth-highest monthly spike in job losses on record.

According to state officials, the unemployment rate has fallen slightly not because Ohio is creating more jobs, but because Ohioans have given up on trying to find them.

"It's obvious to everyone by now that Ted Strickland has no plan to reverse Ohio's economic decline," said Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine. "Thousands of Ohioans are losing their jobs every month, and the Strickland administration thinks everything is magnificent. It only took them eight months to hire an economic development director, and all they could come up with was someone they had already passed over."

A majority of Ohioans surveyed in recent Quinnipiac and Ohio polls said they disapprove of the way Gov. Strickland is handling the state's economy.

The Strickland Record:

Strickland ran for governor "to create jobs in Ohio."

"One of the primary reasons Gov. Strickland ran for governor was to create jobs in Ohio," [spokesman Keith] Dailey said." (Columbus Business First, 1/22/07)

Strickland called himself "the jobs candidate."

"Asked about Fingerhut's comments on the choices for Democrats, Strickland good-naturedly said, 'Was he describing himself as the politics of the past? I think I'm the jobs candidate.'" (Dayton Daily News, 1/19/06)

Strickland said he would "rescue" Ohio's economy:

"U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Democratic candidate for governor, says his Turnaround Ohio plan will rescue the state's economy." (The Columbus Dispatch, 2/25/06)

Strickland failed on his promises:

• Ohio has lost 329,600 jobs since Ted Strickland became Governor.
   
• As of September, Ohio has lost 174,600 jobs in 2009
   
• Ohio ranked second in the nation in jobless claims this year.
   
• In the last year alone, more than 250,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs amid double-digit unemployment, now at its highest level in more than a quarter century.
   
• Ohio ranks next to last in economic performance.
   
• Ohio's unemployment rate ranks higher than neighboring West Virginia.
   
• Ohio ranks worst in the nation in manufacturing jobs lost.
   
• Nearly 60 percent of college students said in a recent survey they plan to leave Ohio after graduation in search of job opportunities.
   
• The Dayton Daily News noted that since Strickland took office in 2007 "Ohio has lost 313,600 jobs, about twice as many jobs as there are residents of Dayton."
   
• Ohio's credit rating has been downgraded to a "negative outlook," and the state is "in danger of having its rating dropped again."
   
• The Plain Dealer recently called Strickland's failure to name a permanent economic development director "inexplicable."