Kasich’s unfulfilled promise

Akron Beacon Journal: John Kasich points to the creation of 170,500 private-sector jobs during his three years as governor, a pace that ranks ninth among the states. He cites a 21 percent reduction in the number of unemployed Ohioans. What he and his allies skip past is helpful context.

That figure of 170,500 jobs is more about raw numbers, akin to Ohio boasting that it ranks seventh among the states in population. Telling is the percentage increase. George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economics researcher, notes that the past year Ohio experienced job growth of 0.38 percent, trailing the national rate of 1.76 percent.

This isn’t what the governor advertised when he talked about the world wanting to know how Ohio has gotten things right, even achieved a “miracle.”

The promise was that Ohio would do much better. Yet, three years into the Kasich era, including an engaged JobsOhio, the privatized economic development operation, and the numbers are what they are, Ohio lagging the nation.

It may be that the state economy is poised to take off, adding close to the 100,000 jobs a year of the 1990s. Or maybe another course is needed. The Democratic opposition has an obligation to develop and convey what it currently lacks — a credible alternative for Ohio.