Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, third from the right, pauses for the pledge of allegiance at the Logan County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative breakfast Tuesday morning. To his right are Ric Abbott, NK Parts Industries Inc. executive vice president, and Joe Lehmann, NK Parts Industries Inc. vice president. (EXAMINER PHOTO | Mandy Loehr)
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted shared with approximately 100 business and industry leaders and elected officials at the Logan County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative breakfast Tuesday morning, Oct. 3, about Ohio’s economic story over the last several decades, and why the future looks very bright for families, job seekers and potential new businesses.
Currently, the state boasts its lowest unemployment rate in history and the most jobs available ever, the Lt. Gov said during the session at the Green Hills Community Foundation Hall.
“I think Ohio will be the innovative powerhouse of the U.S.,” he said. “In Ohio, we’re the heart of it all. We have great people here with the work ethic to do it. We have an entrepreneurial spirit, and have faith, family and hard work as our motivating factors. We stick to our core values.
“Within the last four years, we’ve had 53 businesses from the coast move to Ohio. That’s a reputation that we’ve developed — we’re a great place to do business and raise a family.”
Husted said it was a true honor for him to speak at the chamber’s breakfast, noting the importance of the organization as a carabiner of business and development in the region. After receiving his master’s degree from the University of Dayton, the lieutenant governor previously served as the vice president for economic development at the Dayton-Area Chamber of Commerce.
Ohio was not always in such great shape economically, especially looking back about 30 years when Ohio and many Midwestern states struggled with globalization and the movement of industry overseas, the former Secretary of State said.
“It’s been a long time coming. This has not been an overnight success story, but it’s a change that has happened over time, through a variety of factors, including the public and private sectors working together.”
The state official also provided a personal story regarding the difficulty he experienced relating to the previous movement of jobs out of Ohio about three decades ago, when his father lost his factory job and his family had to relocate out of state. Lt. Gov. Husted began his college education at the University of Dayton at the time when his family made the big move.
“It’s about our people, our families,” he said. “We have those economic opportunities in our state again, so that we don’t have to leave and families can stay together.”
Positive changes for Ohio’s economy began with policies enacted by Gov. George Voinovich, and then later business tax reform to curb the heavy taxes businesses previously faced when making investments in new equipment, the lieutenant governor noted.
Now Ohio is the future location of some major economic developments, including Intel’s $20 billion investment to build two semiconductor factories and Amazon’s recent announcement that it will spend $7.8 billion to build data center operations in central Ohio. Google also announced in late August that it would invest an additional $1.7 billion to support three data center campuses in central Ohio.
Over the last four decades, Husted noted that Honda has invested $14 billion in Ohio. The lieutenant governor met with Honda leadership just this week, with officials relaying to him upcoming developments and ways they are striving to innovate and improve.
Last fall, LG Energy Solution and Honda also announced their $3.5 billion investment in the new joint venture EV battery plant to be located in Jeffersonville, with plans to create 2,200 jobs, in the over 2 million square feet facility. Honda also will invest $700 million to retool the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP) and Anna Engine Plant (AEP), as the new EV Hub in Ohio.
“Now more and more companies are looking to us. We’re producing the food that you eat, the cars that you drive and the cloud companies that you use,” Husted said.
Relating to the semiconductor development through Intel, he relayed the importance of increasing the domestic rate of production for this technology. While the semiconductor was invented in America, now only 12 percent of semiconductors are manufactured in the U.S.
“That’s important to America and that we make it here,” the breakfast speaker noted.
With Ohio pulling in so many new job opportunities and investments, now the need is build up the skilled workforce, Husted said. To that end, he has been visiting career centers around the state to encourage the important partnerships between the career centers and local businesses to meet the need for talent.
Many skilled traded students are then able to enter the workforce directly out of high school.
Last October, Husted visited the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center to see their programs in action and to talk with officials there, as previously detailed in the Examiner. He also met with local businesses representatives who are utilizing the TechCred program for a roundtable discussion.
TechCred was rolled out by Husted and Gov. Mike DeWine, and it enables companies to be reimbursed up to $2,000 for an employee to receive short-term credential training, to be completed within one year. For more information on the program, visit https://techcred.ohio.gov/.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted speaks Tuesday morning during the Logan County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative breakfast. (EXAMINER PHOTO | Mandy Loehr)
