This week, at JobsOhio’s quarterly board meeting, Gov. Mike DeWine said the Buckeye State faces a “generational opportunity” to ignite the state’s economy after a record-setting year. The state’s private economic development corporation is forecasting 31,165 jobs created by the end of the year, and $1.74 billion in new payroll — all-time records for JobsOhio. The number of projects won (403) is another record. Statewide capital investment at $7 billion is down from $7.8 billion in 2020. Since its founding in 2011 through 2020, JobsOhio executed more than 2,800 economic development projects that attracted 500 new companies to the state, and retained or expanded more than 2,100 existing Ohio businesses. The agreements generated and retained more than 800,000 jobs and secured more than $45 billion in payrolls. In the decade before House Bill 1, which created JobsOhio in 2011, Ohio had lost more than 230,000 of its critical industrial jobs — an 18% decline. 12/16/2021