Only in our current hyper-partisan political environment – where everything must be run through an ideological wringer – could the saving of an entire American industry become such a political football.
Of course, I’m talking about the financial rescue of GM and Chrysler – which was in essence the rescue of the entire industry. Innovation Ohio’s policy staff has tracked the growth of auto industry jobs in Ohio since mid 2009 and the numbers – from the Bureau of Labor Statistics – tell us that more than 17,000 auto jobs have been added. This is the sort of statistic touted by the Obama Administration.
On the other side is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He famously penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal which argued against federal involvement in backstopping the auto industry. Rather than quietly move on from an issue that didn’t go his way – the rescue worked – he and Ohio Gov. John Kasich talk down Ohio’s recovering economy and the auto industry’s place in that recovery.
Dan Gearino of The Columbus Dispatch has written a well-reported, balanced piece on the raging debate over the auto rescue. What interested me in the story is what auto industry executives had to say about the rescue.
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The importance of Ohio’s auto industry to the state’s economy is underscored once again today as the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly census of employment and wage data shows 17,315 jobs added since the federal rescue.
This being a political season – and the auto rescue being a political football – there has been much back and forth about just how much effect the rescue has had. Take a look at the chart below. The IO research staff has compiled and tracked the BLS since our first report on the importance of the auto rescue earlier this year.
We look at the “direct jobs” in the ‘auto cluster’ in the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) groups:
NAICS 336100 Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
NAICS 336200 Motor Vehicle Body and Trailer Manufacturing
NAICS 336300 Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing
GOP partisans are responsible for the confusion about auto industry job creation in Ohio since the rescue. Gov. John Kasich has purposefully low-balled the number as has the Columbus Dispatch. Here’s as unvarnished as we can make the truth:
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