The Columbus Dispatch...
Editorial: Ohio’s ‘Lost Decade’
Need for ‘jobs budget’ is vividly illustrated by economic analysis
Monday, July 11, 2011 

An economic report prepared for U.S. mayors makes a strong case for why Ohio urgently needs Gov. John Kasich’s “jobs budget.” It predicts seven of Ohio’s big cities face another “lost decade” before employment fully recovers - if ever. 

   These formerly bustling communities are among 37 in the nation not expected to return to prerecession peak employment for another decade. Mainstay industries closed or downsized, decimating employment. Some jobs are gone for good, and new ones haven’t shown up yet. 

   Two years after the Great Recession supposedly ended, it doesn’t feel much different: Ohioans are still out of work - especially in the manufacturing Rust Belt, companies are still hesitant to hire, homebuyers are still wavering, tax collections have not reached previous highs, and government budgets are pinched.   

   To pull Ohio from the slump, Kasich and the General Assembly have crafted a painful, but pragmatic, budget. Ohio will discipline its spending, jettison bureaucratic weight and become more attractive to business. The recently adopted budget includes dramatic changes because it must resolve dramatic problems. 

   That is well-demonstrated by a new report, “U.S. Metro Economies,” prepared by IHS Global Insight for the United States Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City. 

   Ohio leads the pack for the worst-wounded big cities, according to an analysis of the IHS Global Insight study by the financial   news and opinion website 24/7 Wall St. It narrowed the list of 37 “Lost Decade” communities to focus on those with the largest work forces. Of those 10, Ohio has four, more than any other state. 

   Canton-Massillon placed at No. 10; Dayton at 9; Youngstown, Warren, Boardman at 7; and Toledo at 5. (Mansfield, Lima and Steubenville bring Ohio to seven cities on the Global Insight “Lost Decade” list.) 

   “They have lost the industries which once made them prosperous and they will probably never get them back,” the authors write.   

   No. 1 on the Top 10 “Lost Decade” list is Reno-Sparks, Nev., hit by dropping tourism. Not surprisingly, Flint, Mich., and the Detroit area trail close behind. Ohio’s prominence, thereafter, is glaring. 

   “Like many of the cities on this list,” 24/7 Wall St. writes, “Canton was once a powerful industrial city but has since come on hard times.” 

   It notes that “at the turn of the century, Dayton generated more patents per capita than any other U.S. city. ... Currently things are not going well.” 

   That’s putting it politely for a city that lost more than 35,000 jobs in the recession. 

   Global Insight’s forecasters and analysts predict that, within the state, central Ohio will fully recover its lost jobs by the end of next year. Other areas will recover more slowly. (To read the full report, go to  www.usmayors.org/ metroeconomies/2011/ ) 

   Ohio has reinvented itself in the past, and can do so again. The two-year budget adopted last month by the legislature and the governor should rightsize state spending and make it clear that Ohio is open for business again. 

   And none too soon. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch...