1590 WAKR, The Toledo Blade and other news organizations in Ohio are part of a collaborative effort to share stories and information leading up to the 2016 primary and general elections. In this report, Tom Troy of the Toledo Blade reached out to the various Presidential campaigns with a series of questions relating to Ohio's economy. This report contains the responses from those who answered his query.

LINK Troy's full report "Kasich, Sanders, Rubio offer ideas for Ohio's economic conceerns" 

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(Toledo Blade) Two candidates responded by the deadline – Sanders and Rubio. Kasich responded in writing a day later, but not to the question, and also asked for a conversation on the phone with the reporter, Tom Troy at The Blade.

Troy’s letter to candidates:

Dear Candidate:

The Ohio Newspaper Organization is preparing a package of stories about the Ohio economy for use in member newspaper, radio and television reporters this coming weekend, March 5 

This email is to invite you to comment. The deadline is noon on Thursday. The responses will be made available to our member organizations, which are the Akron Beacon journal, The (Dayton) Daily News, The (Cincinnati) Enquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, The Canton Repository and The (Toledo) Blade newspapers, Ohio Public Radio, and television stations in Dayton and Columbus. These new organizations cover communities with population of about 8 million people.

The findings that we will report show that:

• Ohio is down more than 250,000 jobs since 2000 and still down nearly 80,000 since 2007.

• In 2000, Ohio ranked 19^th in the nation for median household income, and today is 35^th, making the second-biggest drop in the nation.

• Our biggest workforce loss has been in the goods-producing sector, which also was our highest paying sector.

• Polls show the economy is the No. 1 issue for Ohio voters. 

Please say how you propose to shape U.S. policy to bring back to Ohio high-paying jobs that will restore economic security. You may include in your answer what you think are the reasons for the decline in median income in Ohio. In addition to whatever industrial or trade policies you think relevant, you may also address those issues that you think are relevant to economic security, such as tax policy, health care affordability, education, labor policy, international trade agreements and regulation. We ask that you provide us detailed policy analysis as possible.

Thank you,

Tom Troy,

Politics Writer, The Blade

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

The economy is the #1 issue for Ohio voters, and for good reason: employment, wages, and median incomes have fallen, while the costs of health care, education, and living expenses have gone up. To reverse these trends, we need a president who not only understands the challenges of the 21st century economy, but a president with a comprehensive plan to address them.

It is impossible to address Ohio’s economy without discussing manufacturing. Over the last two decades, technological advancements have led to machines replacing workers; globalization has led to factories moving overseas; and the rise of information technology has led to a shift in demand away from producing products and toward performing services. No one knows these fundamental changes better than Ohio workers.

The future of manufacturing – and the Ohio communities that depends on it -can be very bright. But to make it so, we have to embrace the economic changes of our time – something few in Washington seem willing to do. 

We can start by revolutionizing higher education and skills training. We rely on a higher education system that looks down its nose at skilled trades. It tells our kids that if they grow up to work with their hands instead of a computer they’re somehow less accomplished. I promise you this: I will be the vocational education president. I will make skills training more widespread, more accessible, and more affordable. I’ll expand apprenticeships so education can come out of the classroom and into the real world. I’ll allow students to begin learning a trade as early as high school, so they can graduate ready to enter a good paying career without taking on mountains of student debt.

For example, I’ll help establish more programs like the one in Cleveland where high schoolers can work at GE’s manufacturing plant to gain practical experience and mentoring. The graduation rate for these students is 95 percent, compared to just 60 percent for Cleveland public schools.

We must equip today’s workers to fill today’s manufacturing jobs, but we also need to ensure new manufacturing jobs are created tomorrow. We can’t do that unless and until we fundamentally reform our tax code. Large companies in Ohio typically pay the corporate tax rate, which at a combined rate of 39.2% puts our companies at a significant disadvantage with our global competitors. My tax plan cuts taxes for all businesses to 25%, which will benefit not only larger companies, but the small businesses that employ over 2 million workers in Ohio. My plan also allows businesses to immediately expense every dollar they invest in the economy, helping them expand. For middle-class families, the plan creates a $2,500 Child Tax Credit to ease the costs of raising children in the 21^st century. According to nonpartisan estimates, my plan will create millions of jobs, result in a massive increase in investment, and boost after-tax income for all Americans.

We also need a regulatory environment that allows Ohio businesses to prosper without unnecessary mandates from Washington. Rules like the EPA’s Clean Power Plan will result in massive energy cost spikes and have a disproportionate impact on Ohio manufacturers. One estimate from the National Association of Manufacturers found the annual cost of federal regulations to be over $2 trillion. We all want our air and water to be clean, but in many ways, President Obama has used his regulatory agencies to pursue an ideological agenda instead of one focused on keeping us safe. I have proposed enacting a National Regulatory Budget, which lets Congress put an annual cap on federal regulations so that agencies like the EPA cannot operate without checks and balances.

Energy production is a bright spot in Ohio’s economy, and I strongly believe we need to fully utilize all of our energy resources, including coal, natural gas, and renewables. When I released my comprehensive energy plan in Salem, Ohio, I laid out three guiding principles: optimize our resources, minimize government bureaucracy, and maximize private sector innovation. My plan will increase domestic production of energy both onshore and offshore, approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, and increase exports of natural gas. It will stop harmful regulations like new rules designed to impede hydraulic fracturing, and it will modernize our outdated education system to encourage high-paying jobs of the future. When I am president, we will not have a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax, which would hammer Ohio’s economy.

Education, tax, and regulatory reform will provide a huge boost to Ohio’s economy and increase prosperity for all. There are many other issues that must be addressed. Obamacare is raising costs and hurting the ability of employers to hire. That’s why I have put forward a consumer-centered alternative that provides individuals with a refundable tax credit to purchase health insurance if they do not receive it from their employer. I am strong proponent of free trade, but trade deals must be fair to American workers. And I believe our labor laws must reflect the economy of the rapidly changing economy and provide flexibility to workers.

Ohio has felt the impact of our struggling economy firsthand, but it is not too late to restore prosperity here and across the nation. To do so, we need a change of course from the failed policies of the last seven years. As president, I am committed to pursuing a pro-growth platform that will create jobs, boost wages, and make America the most innovation and business-friendly country in the world. If we do these things, we can make the 21^st century a New American Century.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont

“There is no doubt in my mind that the devastating loss of jobs and income in Ohio over the past fifteen years is due in large part to our failed trade policies. These bad trade deals, like NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR with China, have destroyed good-paying manufacturing jobs in Ohio by incentivizing companies to ship jobs overseas. I have consistently opposed these bad trade deals in Congress. As President, I will work to reverse these trade agreements that have proven so costly to Ohio workers.

Adding to the burden of lost jobs and reduced income is the high cost of health care in this country. I am proposing a Medicare-for-All plan that will guarantee health coverage for all Americans, and lower the costs of healthcare for both individuals and businesses. This would provide an important measure of economic security for Ohio families.

While Ohio families have seen their median incomes fall, they have also had to worry about the rising cost of sending their kids to college. I am proposing a plan that will allow every American who studies hard in school to go to college regardless of how much money their parents make and without going deeply into debt. My plan will make tuition free at public colleges and universities throughout the United States. Ohio, with its many fine public colleges and universities, will benefit from a workforce that is not constrained by the high price of a great education.

Finally, to create more jobs in Ohio and across the country, I am proposing a jobs program that would put 13 million Americans back to work by investing $1 trillion in modernizing our infrastructure.”

Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio

The John Kasich campaign responded a day late, and framed the answer around his term as governor. The Kasich campaign spokesman also asked for time on the phone with the reporter.

Job Creation

Ohioans have created 400,700 new private sector jobs since January 2011. That ranks Ohio 8^th among all states for total private sector job creation, up from 47^th over the previous four years. Currently, there are 4.7 million Ohioans with a private sector job; putting Ohio more than 65,000 jobs over the November 2007 pre-recession level.

Per the BLS CES Survey, from 1990-2010 Ohio ranked 46th in private sector job growth rate. This ranking emphasizes the historical disadvantage dealt John Kasich when he came into office in January 2011. In an effort to disrupt and improve upon this two-decades long trend, John Kasich worked to improve the environment for job creation by cutting unnecessary bureaucratic red-tape, privatizing economic development, getting the state budget under control and cutting taxes by more than any sitting governor. In response, Ohio's private sector job creation growth rate ranking has skyrocketed 24 places to 22nd from January 2011 to December 2015. That is a stronger improvement than all but three states. 

Finally, since 2010 Ohio’s ranking in Forbes' Best States for Business study showed the Buckeye State improved from 38 to 15. That is the largest jump of all states from 2010-2015. Ohio scored its highest marks for its regulatory environment (No. 5 in the U.S.) and its quality of life. Source: Dayton Business Journal

Real Median Household Income

https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=3Eb8

Goods Producing Jobs

According to BLS data, goods producing jobs in Ohio shrank by 35.4% from 2000 to 2010. From 2010 to 2015, those jobs have grown by 89,600, or 11.1%. By comparison, from 2010 to 2015, good producing jobs nationwide have increased by 10.6%. 

This project examining the direction of Ohio’s economy was produced by Ohio  news organizations that have joined together to deliver stories that citizens identify as most important to their lives in 2016. More  than  30  newspapers,  radio  and  television  stations  agreed  in  December  to  cover  the presidential  election  in  a  way  that  best  represents  the  concerns  of  Ohioans,  and  holds  candidates accountable to those concerns.