The Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative staged a jobs rally last month at Market Street and Park Avenue in downtown Warren. It was part of a statewide campaign called ''Fighting for Ohio Jobs.''
Efforts to boost employment locally should be welcomed, but some of the statements that MVOC made and some of its solutions are out of touch with reality.
The MVOC made references to ''the slowness of job growth,'' but this year the Warren / Youngstown area ranked third out of the top 100 U.S. metro areas in the percentage of increase in manufacturing jobs. The region also ranked in the top 20 out of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas in economic improvement.
The MVOC made reference to ''this job crisis,'' but last week Warren and Trumbull County posted their lowest unemployment figures in four years. Warren stands at 8.3 percent and the rest of Trumbull at 7.2 percent.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, recently announced, ''The fact is, we are leading the country out of the recession and we are proud of it.'' Ohio's unemployment rate dropped from 10.6 percent during The Great Recession to 7.3 percent now. The nation's unemployment rate is 8.2 percent.
Those numbers are still too high, which is why the MVOC, which has gained considerable clout in its effort to combat human trafficking and sex crimes in Warren and help local governments proceed with a robust housing demolition plan, deserves support in rallying for more jobs. Unfortunately, the MVOC is also rallying for ''the need for publicly funded jobs.''
The ''solution'' delivered at the rally in Warren includes raising taxes, increasing government spending ''to put people to work and improve (the state's) job outlook,'' while at the same time campaigning against making Ohio a ''right-to-work'' state. The real solution is just the opposite - continue cutting taxes and government spending and continue making Ohio business friendly, one way of which is to make Ohio a right-to-work state. The government should not be an employment agency.
To keep everything in perspective, we again refer to Ryan. He recently said, ''We still have a lot of work to do, but these are encouraging numbers. Ohioans are going back to work.''