· April 30, 2013

PolitiFact finds Oil and Gas Industry Jobs Claims to be Dubious

On Monday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer released a PolitiFact that examined recent ads by the oil and gas industry claiming to have created 40,000 jobs last year in Ohio.  PolitiFact gave the ad its lowest rating — “Pants on Fire” — and strongly questioned the industry’s job creation claims. PolitiFact found that the ads overstate the number and type of jobs created and failed to disclose that many of these jobs may have gone to out-of-state workers.  In addition, they found the fact that the numbers were based on economic modeling rather than actual surveys of employers undermined the veracity of the claim. PolitiFact also noted the high rate of turnover in industry hiring data, showing that even if Ohioans are being hired, the work is often temporary in nature. Recently, we highlighted independent research that questioned the industry’s job creation claims, and much of that research is cited by PolitiFact. Going forward, policy makers need to be wary of industry claims about job creation until data actually demonstrates that Ohioans are benefiting from new oil and gas jobs. A “Hire Ohio” policy that creates incentives for companies to hire Ohio workers would be a good start.