Ohio Lags Behind Arizona In Turning Intel’s Investment Into Something Truly Transformative
As the jobs data above shows, other states are simply better at turning a gold coin into a pot of gold.
In January 2022, Intel Corporation announced its plans to invest $20 billion in Ohio to build a massive semiconductor chip manufacturing facility. Two months later, Intel announced a similar $20 billion project in Arizona. Both states and their political leaders touted the Intel investments claiming the projects would lead to a massive jobs boom. To see what has happened in each state since Intel’s big announcements, a look at the employment figures for each state focused on the construction industry (big new plants and the secondary and tertiary projects related thereto employ lots of construction workers), the manufacturing industry (new workers will be added as the plants and related projects open), and the private sector as a whole (big projects should result in job gains in other industries like "trade, transportation, and utilities" and "leisure and hospitality") will show whether the hype behind the projects turned into something real.
In January 2022, Ohio’s construction industry had 229,800 jobs and its manufacturing industry possessed 673,600 jobs. Across the state, Ohio’s private sector employed 4,713,100 workers. Twenty-eight months later, Ohio’s construction industry stood at 238,800, or just 9,200 more workers. Its manufacturing industry was up 15,000 jobs at 688,600. Statewide, Ohio’s private sector came in at 4,884,900, which is a total gain of 171,800 workers.
As for Arizona, in January 2022, its construction industry employed 187,400 workers, as its manufacturing industry was the home to 186,400 Arizonians. For the whole private sector, Arizona stood at 2,640,600 workers. By last month, Arizona’s construction industry had added 29,000 workers, coming in at 216,400 employees. Its manufacturing industry hit 194,400, or 8,000 more workers. In total, Arizona’s private sector employed 2,828,400 people, which represents a gain of 187,800 jobs.
To normalize for the 4.35 million population difference (i.e., Ohio (11,785,935) is a much more populous state than Arizona (7,431,344)), here are the respective gains in each state as a percentage:
Ohio’s Construction Industry Gain: 4.0%
Arizona’s Construction Industry Gain: 15.5%
Ohio’s Manufacturing Industry Gain: 2.2%
Arizona’s Manufacturing Industry Gain: 4.3%
Ohio’s Total Private Sector Gain: 3.7%
Arizona’s Total Private Sector Gain: 7.1%
As you can see, Arizona’s gains outstrip Ohio’s gains. For the construction industry, Arizona’s gain over the twenty-eight months is nearly four times greater than Ohio’s gain, with Arizona’s manufacturing sector and total private sector gains two times as great as Ohio’s increases. Of note, Arizona’s private sector added 16,000 MORE jobs than Ohio’s private sector during the span DESPITE possessing 4.35 million FEWER residents. Thus, it is safe to conclude that Intel’s investment in Arizona is resulting in far more activity than its commitment to Ohio.
In fact, Intel announced a couple of months ago that its was delaying the Ohio project by two-to-three years. It has not made a similar announcement for its Arizona project where it already has manufacturing facilities. As I’ve discussed previously, with so many semiconductor manufacturing facilities being built across America, the competition for workers will get ferocious, thereby forcing states to compete to lure workers. Ohio won’t fare well in that competition due to its current condition. Namely, Ohio, unlike states like Arizona and Texas, favors labor unions. Ohio has a state income tax along with a local tax burden in the top third of all states. When it comes to the ease of doing business, Ohio just cannot compare to Arizona or Texas, as those states possess the 12th (Phoenix) and 2nd (Dallas-Fort Worth), 15th (Houston), 27th (Austin), 32nd (Dallas’s #2), 35th (Houston’s #2), and 45th (San Antonio) busiest airports in America with Ohio’s pathetic airports coming in at 46th (Cleveland), 50th (Cincinnati), and 51st (Columbus). Keep in mind, as America’s seventh largest state, Ohio’s airport rankings are a glaring example of just how weak Ohio’s economy has been, is, and will be into the future. Moreover, in ranking-after-ranking, Ohio sits in the bottom third. Then, of course, there is the cold weather that Ohioans must deal with for months on end. Why would a worker come to Ohio over Arizona or Texas?
Until Ohio policymakers start taking on the big issues by enacting the policies I’ve been championing for fifteen years, even when Ohio gets the occasional win like Intel, its ability to leverage that win to create bigger and better opportunities for Ohioans will be limited. As the jobs data above shows, other states are simply better at turning a gold coin into a pot of gold.