Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke at Sinclair Community College on May 15, announcing the creation of 800 new jobs in the Dayton area, while also discussing the importance of quality-trained workers and the role Sinclair plays in the development of students.
“This region has great potential,” Kasich said. “Sinclair is fantastic.”
Procter & Gamble Co. has plans for an $89 million distribution center to be built near the Dayton airport — scheduled to be operational in 2015. When announcing the project, Kasich took the opportunity to talk about the surrounding region and how it is improving job growth.
Kasich said Ohio has climbed from 48 to six in terms of job creation, while running a state surplus of over $1 billion, making Ohio a business friendly state.
He spoke about potential businesses coming to the area and why improving the regions infrastructure is a key factor in these companies decision to locate around Dayton.
“When companies are looking at where they are going to locate they don’t want to go someplace where it’s rickety and rockety,” Kasich said.
The state’s industry shift from agriculture and manufacturing, to healthcare and logistics, was also a focus of Kasich’s speech, as well as higher education and the importance of training the youth for future jobs.
“Having qualified workers is really the key to it, and we are working with Sinclair and with all higher education to get ourselves in the position of where, at a young age, our students, [which are] our most precious assets, are beginning to think about the kind of life they would like to have,” Kasich said.
WYSO, the Miami Valley’s National Public Radio News station, reported that Kasich’s Democratic opponent Ed Fitzgerald issued a statement in response to the event at Sinclair, stating that the city’s job growth has sputtered since Kasich took office.
“The reality in Dayton is not what Governor Kasich would like us all to believe that it is,” Lauren Hitt with the Fitzgerald campaign, said in the same report. “People in that community have been struggling for years.”
The hiring for the 800 positions at the Procter & Gamble plant will likely begin this November according to a Dayton Daily News report.
“ When you take good schools, trained workers, great location, good hard working smart people, great cities like we have here, why shouldn’t we be number one in the country,” Kasich said.