Should the State of Ohio offer (Columbus, Cleveland: sales, home, find a job)

[Chairman Katsumoto]

Should the State of Ohio offer welfare payments to recent university graduates in order to try to keep them from leaving Ohio? Since the employment situation is rather bleak and companies are attracted to lower cost, lower tax locations, the situation is not likely to change for some time.

Since many recent university graduates claim they cannot find suitable employment, should they be offered welfare payments in order to retain them in Ohio?

Is it appropriate for the State of Ohio to offer bus tickets to recent Ohio university graduates so they can move to other states where jobs are available?

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Chairman Katsumoto

Should the State of Ohio offer welfare payments to recent university graduates in order to try to keep them from leaving Ohio? Since the employment situation is rather bleak and companies are attracted to lower cost, lower tax locations, the situation is not likely to change for some time.

Since many recent university graduates claim they cannot find suitable employment, should they be offered welfare payments in order to retain them in Ohio?

Is it appropriate for the State of Ohio to offer bus tickets to recent Ohio university graduates so they can move to other states where jobs are available?

Should other states do this as well? Last I checked people AREN'T moving right now. This is not just an Ohio issue, but it is happening all over.

[TheYO]

I'm graduating from Ohio University this spring. It would take a lot more than a welfare check to keep me in this state. Given my degree and experience, I'm fairly confident I could find a job in Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati if I wanted to, but I would much rather move to a bigger city with more to offer. Even if I couldn't get a job here, why would I want to be on welfare here, when I can be working doing something I'm passionate about in another state? Plus, why burden the taxpayers by extending welfare?

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by TheYO

I'm graduating from Ohio University this spring. It would take a lot more than a welfare check to keep me in this state. Given my degree and experience, I'm fairly confident I could find a job in Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati if I wanted to, but I would much rather move to a bigger city with more to offer. Even if I couldn't get a job here, why would I want to be on welfare here, when I can be working doing something I'm passionate about in another state? Plus, why burden the taxpayers by extending welfare?

Good post! Welcome to CD.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by Chairman Katsumoto

Should the State of Ohio offer welfare payments to recent university graduates in order to try to keep them from leaving Ohio?

The state should do what it can do to make business want to come here so that not only will graduates want to stay, but other people would want to move here.

Raising income taxes ( statewide or in individual municipalities ) won't do it.

Raising sales taxes won't either.

Raising gasoline taxes might if the proceeds are only used for roads and transit.

Having Ohio-specific rules and regulations that duplicate federal regulations from the EPA and OSHA won't do it.

The opposite of those things will help.

Who cares if graduates leave for a while? If they go somewhere else, anywhere else, they can come back with knowledge and ideas that will be useful in Ohio.

[bjimmy24]

I disagree with this on principle. But even without principle, it only encourages people to stay here unemployed and use funds before leaving. The problem is not that the cost of living is so high, they can't afford to live here while they're looking for the job that they feel might be just around the corner. The problem is they can't get employed here, at all (and also maybe their major was idiotic, in which case, nobody can help).

As long as businesses can get better deals outside of Ohio, that's where they're going to be. As long as entrepreneurs face high barriers of entry, they will continue leave to less regulated states. Does anyone think it's a coincidence that Texas and the southwest has been exploding with growth? Not saying their perfect (far from it, and I don't really care for the culture down there anyway), but worth a study.

I left Ohio because I couldn't get the jobs I wanted there, that's it. I love it as my home and would love to return home, but only if the work I want is there. Or if I make enough money first I won't really care.

[SWOH]

Interesting thread to bring back ID!

I also disagree with the principle. I agree that it would only subsidize the trek down to their parents' basement for fresh college graduates. I don't think it would motivate people one way or the other to stay in the state, and also I don't think that having an outflow of college graduates in comparison to the # of universities present in this state is bad. OH has a high concentration of universities.

The key is to keep our universities strong, public and private non-profit. Because there was a baby boom around 1991-1995, now and into the near future universities will be competing for fewer students. It will be important to foll the gap by bringing in even larger numbers of out of state students and international students.

[notnamed]

Wouldn't such a program just lead to an increase in gov't spending/taxes and thus drive even more businesses away?

I too enjoyed my time in Ohio. But the tax policy needs a complete rewrite before they go further down the road of that state up north. Businesses are naturally flocking to low tax states as physical location becomes less important.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by notnamed

Wouldn't such a program just lead to an increase in gov't spending/taxes and thus drive even more businesses away?

I too enjoyed my time in Ohio. But the tax policy needs a complete rewrite before they go further down the road of that state up north. Businesses are naturally flocking to low tax states as physical location becomes less important.

On the contrary, I think physically location is becoming MORE important. Some ridiculous number of people are retiring in the next 15 years and the young generation who is largely urban inclined will have to replace the boomers. Many companies have already begun relocating to downtowns and urban areas, most notably of late, GE's decision to relocate its headquarters from suburban Connecticut to downtown Boston. This is not an exception, but rather a high profile continuation of the trend. I don't think that remote working, or the internet, etc will ever actually effectively replace being in a physical location.

But agreed on the taxes. Ohio's taxes are a mess and very confusing. Companies will want to find a place that fits the urban location they want with the best possible tax situation. Unfortunately, nowhere in Ohio at this point in time really has an ideal location (could be there in the future, but I wouldn't say right now in 2016 when talking about established companies that would relocate there) and really has a bad tax climate.

[notnamed]

Well let me rephrase that by saying that companies are more mobile now. They are more likely to pick up and move to exploit a better business environment rather than stay entrenched some place just because they started the company there.