DeWine’s ‘prosperity plan’ pushes job training
Mike DeWine proposed an “Ohio Prosperity Plan” Monday that he bills as improving the preparation of the state’s workforce for in-demand jobs while creating incentives to encourage economic development.
Ohio’s attorney general and Republican nominee for governor provided the details of his plan at Nehemiah Manufacturing Co. in Cincinnati on Monday before making a follow-up announcement later at the Dawson career center in Columbus.
“The most important thing that our state’s leaders can do is make Ohio the kind of place where Ohioans have the opportunity to get goodpaying jobs, provide for their families, save for a good education, have a sound retirement and live their own version of the American Dream,” DeWine said in a statement.
Amid relatively low employment, some Ohio businesses have complained about finding qualified workers.
DeWine said he would provide training to more people to help them gain the skills needed for jobs in growing industries.
He would create regional job-training partnerships with businesses, educators and community leaders and lobby the federal government to remove red tape attached to job-training dollars in favor of local decision-making.
The candidate said he also would upgrade OhioMeansJobs.com to connect people with businesses in their fields of interest, and he would partner with companies and colleges to provide more certificates involving high-tech jobs.
DeWine also would create “opportunity zones” for distressed communities to help attract private investment, and he would change state laws to better align with the federal tax-cut legislation to capture its benefits.
Allowing researchers at Ohio universities to own the intellectual property they create would attract more talent and research investment, DeWine said.
He said he also wants to work with the private sector to expand broadband access in underserved areas and to forbid any state regulation other than health and safety measures that hampers job creation.
Democrat Richard Cordray, DeWine’s opponent in the Nov. 6 gubernatorial election, previously introduced his proposals to improve Ohio’s job-training programs and upgrade its workforce.
In a statement, Cordray campaign spokesman Michael Gwin said: “No matter what DeWine says, he can’t escape the fact that he’s spent 42 years as a politician doing the bidding of his special-interest donors at the expense of middleclass families. Ohioans need a governor who will fight for them and put more money in their pockets, just like Rich did as attorney general and as America’s top consumer watchdog. Mike DeWine’s shown that his priority will always be appeasing wealthy and powerful corporate interests — not putting Ohio workers first.”