Study: Jobs follow wireless Internet

Jan. 25, 2012, Marion Star

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

If businesses are going to come to Ohio, with jobs in tow, they’re going to want access to high speed Internet.

A report by the national think tank NDN looked specifically at wireless broadband, examining communities that recently saw increases in network speeds. The study notes that communities that saw this increase then saw an increase in employment the following quarter.

According to the study, the shift from 2G to 3G networks between 2007 and 2011 helped bring about 1.6 million jobs nationwide.

The study estimates that communities investing in 4G networks will see more than 231,000 jobs in one year.

Growth an opportunity for Ohio cattle industry

Dec. 23, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

Ohio might gain jobs by giving its cattle a first-class ticket to Turkey.

Demand for livestock is growing in developing nations. A group of lawmakers recently visited Turkey to gauge interest in shipping cattle from the Wilmington Airpark.

The air facility is in a unique location. It once belonged to DHL, a shipping company that shuttered its Wilmington operations in 2008 and signed the airpark over to the Clinton County Port Authority.

Since then, the port authority has sought to make use of the facility, said director Kevin Carver.

It has enough space to land large jets — the kind that would likely be used for shipping cattle, Carver said. It is about 10 miles west of Sabina, which houses one of six agricultural export inspection facilities in the country.

Tax breaks help, analysis shows

Oct. 15, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

By Jessica Alaimo and Russ Zimmer

CentralOhio.com

When President Barack Obama or Ohio Gov. John Kasich speak, voters want to know: Where are the jobs?

When local candidates filled out CentralOhio.com’s voter guide, many echoed the same theme: “Residents consistently tell me that they want officials to focus efforts on creating jobs.”

The state allows local officials to offer businesses tax breaks for adding or keeping jobs. A CentralOhio.com analysis shows beneficiaries of the programs have mostly kept their promises.

Since enterprise zones were created in 1983, businesses in the zones created or kept 73 percent of the jobs they promised in exchange for breaks on real and personal property taxes.

Some small businesses start push to repeal Senate Bill 5

May 10, 2011, Port Clinton News Herald

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

NEWARK — Rob Romine wants public employees who walk through his door to know he has their backs.

His downtown Newark business, Backstreet Haircutters, has displayed stickers on his doors that read: “This establishment proudly accepts business from hard working public and private employees.”

The stickers are part of the Proud Ohio Workers campaign, an effort to show Ohio’s small businesses support collective bargaining rights for public employees, said campaign spokeswoman Rebecca Scott. The stickers are placed on 600 business doors throughout the state.

Lawmakers look at comp time

Jan. 31, 2011, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to The News-Messenger

Some Ohio lawmakers want to change how hourly employees for small businesses get paid.

State Reps. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, and Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, want to allow small, private employers to give compensatory time to employees. That would mean employees who work more than 40 hours in a week could bank compensatory time instead of collecting overtime pay.

Thompson and Martin’s bill would apply only to businesses with gross sales of less than $500,000. Larger businesses are governed by federal law, which allows comp time for public-sector employees but not private-sector employees.

New era, new skill sets for a new work force

Jan. 28, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

Special to the News-Messenger

Ohio needs to streamline its worker training to attract green energy jobs, according to a report issued Monday.

Policy Matters Ohio and the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups, looked at green energy training programs in the Buckeye State, and how they could be used and expanded to create a more skilled work force.

Instead of adding new programs, the report details ways to expand existing programs with unions and community colleges.

Numbers show depth of Ohio’s economic despair

Jan. 23, 2010, Newark Advocate

By JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

Barack Obama and state leaders could be forgiven if they thought a presidential visit to Ohio occurred on Friday the 13th, not the 22nd.

More bad news about the state’s economy preceded Obama’s visit to Lorain, where he promised, “I won’t stop fighting to bring back jobs here.”

Ohio’s unemployment rate rose to 10.9 percent in December, the latest figures from the Department of Job and Family Services.

The jobless rate was 10.6 percent in November, and the department blamed losses in service industries for the decline.