Calling it a Blueprint for Ohio’s Economic Future, business leaders want to find ways to help businesses, large and small, double or triple the state’s current economic growth rate.
Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Stivers says he isn’t totally satisfied that Ohio jumped in four years from 15th to fifth in a CNBC survey of best states in which to do business.
Stivers said he wants to be first.
“Is that good enough? Not for me. I want to be No. 1,” Stivers said, describing the need for officials, lawmakers and others “to have a big, hairy, audacious goal.”
Potential impediments to reaching that goal include lack of affordable or workplace housing, health and childcare, quality education and incentives to keep college graduates from moving elsewhere and easing taxing and regulatory controls.
His audacity also includes increasing Ohio’s gross domestic product, he told an audience of about 50 business and industry leaders June 24 at the chamber’s office Downtown.
In the last such analysis, in 2022, Ohio’s gross domestic product growth was 0.4%, according to chamber research. That grew to 2% after 2025. The goal now is for GDP to reach a sustained 3% growth.
Stivers said the chamber will give its report and research to Ohio’s next governor and legislators to help guide them toward that goal, “a blueprint for moving forward.”
Potential impediments to reaching these goals include lack of affordable or workplace housing, health and childcare, quality education and incentives to keep college graduates from moving elsewhere and easing taxing and regulatory controls.
“We attract people that want to come here because of those [research-oriented] ideas. They want to be here near universities. They want to start companies … because they are innovative, they are creative, they are entrepreneurial,” said Trevor Brown, a professor and interim executive vice-president and provost at Ohio State University.
Currently, about 70% of OSU graduates stay in Ohio, Brown said. “They want to be in a growing, dynamic area.”
“I think a lot of kids do not know the opportunities they have here,” Ohio Chamber Research Foundation fellow Kenny McDonald said, noting that many technical, trades and other jobs are becoming much higher paying than years past.
“Nowadays, I think more of those people in that crowd are going to be saying there’s a real opportunity.”
And it’s more than just good pay, McDonald said. Future workers also want affordable homes and good quality of life. Artificial intelligence, housing and other factors also play a role.
Call centers have begun to monitor peak activity, using AI operators only when necessary, “ensuring that someone will always be there in-person to answer,” said Jeremy Gutierrez, a senior commercial banking executive at Fifth Third Bank. “I see it as enabling, not replacing. At the end of the day AI will not replace live relationships.”
And banks are an economic multiplier, Gutierrez said. “Every time we deploy capital, giving a business money to build a building, buy a piece of equipment, hire people. That’s not just funding business. That’s creating jobs, adding to income growth, investing in communities.
“When you put all of that together, I like to think of us as circulators of money … as the plumping for our statewide economy,” Gutierrez said.
He spoke about density, lending and other restrictions for housing, stating that the cost burden “extends across a variety of public-private stakeholders,” not just banks.
Growth and development reporter Dean Narciso can be reached at dnarciso@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Audacious’ growth goal within reach, Ohio business leaders say
Reporting by Dean Narciso, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Dean Narciso, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
