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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > March > 10 > Entry
Editorial: Ohio, Dayton tops in new job sites; really?
If Ohio wins any more of those sizable “Governor’s Cups” that Site Selection magazine gives to the state with the best economic development record, the government will have to find a place to store them. Good thing there are so many empty factories.
Every year at this time, Site Selection — a specialty magazine for people involved in decisions about business locations — names Ohio as the state that’s best at attracting new business developments and expansions. Well, not every year. But every year for the last three. And 2003. And 1993, 1994 and 1995. In between, the state came in usually second or third.
About the only state that has been remotely as impressive — with its own threepeat in the late 1990s — is that other miracle of economic vitality: Michigan.
This year is special for the region because this time the Dayton area ranked tops in the nation among urban areas in its size range (200,000 in population to 1 million). A total of 41 new sites or expansions are counted to its credit. Akron and Toledo are second and third.
And the Springfield area came in second in its range (under 200,000).
Take that, Forbes.com!
For those who haven’t kept up with all these rankings: Forbes.com has taken to publishing periodic obituaries for the Dayton area, announcing that it is one of the fastest dying places in the country or one of the emptiest or who-knows-what next.
So what is it with these rankings? How can one place be at the bottom and at the top? In 1994, this newspaper looked into how the Site Selection competition was run. It reported:
“Magazine editor Jack Lyne said he has seen other states move up or down in the ranking depending on the importance that state administrations attach to keeping tabs on business development.
“The (George) Voinovich administration honed its business tallying by more carefully scrutinizing press clippings to find expansion announcements, assigning staffers to keep closer tabs on new businesses, writing chambers of commerce more frequently and examining a new database to track building permits.”
When, in 2001, the state’s ranking suddenly fell to 14, it was like the New York Yankees not making postseason play.
But the Columbus Dispatch reported that the magazine had changed the rules of the game that year. Now it was measuring 10 factors, not one; and now it was adjusting the statistics to take a state’s size into account. If not for the changes, Ohio would have fallen only to fifth, the magazine editor said.
After that, the state apparently adjusted well.
In the magazine’s story about this year’s award (www.siteselection.com), much is made of all the things Ohio is doing to spur the economy. It’s certainly true that the Strickland administration has done a lot, from passing a stimulus to trying to upgrade higher education.
But if those actions explain the victory in 2008, what explains 2006 or 2007? If somebody, in looking at Ohio’s economy and Dayton’s economy, finds something to praise, some good news, that’s a good thing. It helps to balance what sometimes sounds like a deafening din of despair.
But the truth is that the Site Selection contest doesn’t measure plant closings or shrinkages. It also doesn’t rank the states as to start-ups and expansions of small businesses.
And as to measuring site selections: Best in the nation repeatedly? One of the best in the nation almost consistently over two decades? Really? Is anybody buying this?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Economy, Editorials, Martin Gottlieb
Comments
By Daytonology
March 11, 2009 9:33 PM | Link to this
This is just a “gee whiz” number. What would be more interesting and maybe even useful is to classify the firms doing the expansion. That way one would know what economic sector or type of business is doing the most expanding. This would indicate where the Dayton region might have some economic strength.By bobby
March 12, 2009 9:39 AM | Link to this
Forbes should measure the economic viability of an area by the largest advertisers in the local newspaper. When the county sheriff, obituaries, and dog and cat classified are your bread and butter, the area probably isn’t booming.