Presidential Candidates on Jobs in Southeastern Ohio

Cambridge, Ohio - Among the many issues that will determine who gains our nation's highest seat, one stands out for many Southeastern Ohioans. That issue is the lack of jobs and the continuing closure of factories and other workplaces. Unemployment rates in all but two counties in Southeast Ohio are below the state average and the future looks grim. In Guernsey County for example two workplaces, a state hospital and a factory that produces parts for Chrysler are slated to close almost simultaneously costing the area over five hundred jobs. According to Troy McCollister with Guernsey County Department of Job and Family Services, referring to the state hospital closure: "[I]t would take 13 to 15 years for us to recover (economically)." The same scenario is playing out in many other counties in the region.

Based on this, it is obvious that in order to win votes in Southeast Ohio, a candidate will need to stress the development of jobs for the area. Each of the three remaining major candidates is aware of the important issue of jobs. The question is "Which of them has a plan that will best fit Southeastern Ohioans?"

Hilary Clinton has been stressing the implantation of "green-collar" jobs. Although this may be helpful in some parts of the nation it likely will hurt Southeast Ohioans. This area is dotted with coal mines that employ a large sum of workers. If she can successfully make us "go green" then the need for coal will diminish and probably will not be matched by the number of local "green-collar" jobs, causing the local job crisis to worsen.

Barack Obama is offering a similar plan involving "green-collar jobs". The difference is that his plan also allows sixty billion dollars for National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. It is hard to tell how many jobs this would create locally but it is very likely that it would only amount to a small fraction of the area mining industry jobs.

John McCain's plan may at least help Southeast Ohio farmers. He says that he wants crop insurance and to reduce the inheritance tax. Although he may help farmers it does not appear that he will increase jobs here in Ohio. He says that it is unfortunate that jobs are leaving, but we cannot get them back. Instead we need to care for the current jobs that are available. If we go by this strategy we will never progress and the area will remain in economical trouble.

It would appear that none of these three candidates has a plan that will be very helpful for jobless workers in Southeastern Ohio. We can only hope that one of these presidential hopefuls will change there minds and consider the troubles of the jobless men and women of Southeast Ohio. You can do your part by contacting the candidates and encouraging them to change their plans to implement areas such as Southeastern Ohio.