Tribune editorial staff

Build it and they will come. That seems to be the message industrial leaders are sending to the state legislature.

Among other things, the results of a survey of Ohio's largest industrial employers conducted in August 2003 by Ohio University Southern and the city of Ironton found that participants feel that state support for employment skills is not successful and that the focus should be shifted toward funding for facility growth. To us, this makes perfect sense.

While we understand the desire to have highly qualified workers, what good is it going to do if the jobs are not there to support the workforce? Channeling that money toward expanding businesses' offerings would, in turn, create new jobs. Those new jobs would lead to fewer Ohioans unemployed.

Job training is still a vital issue, but workers can learn on the job or find other outlets for honing their skills. The bottom line is the job has to be there before the worker can benefit.

Lawrence County is a prime example of how helping companies expand would be a better investment to the state of Ohio than training workers. Here some of the workers get trained and either stay in a job in Ohio for a while and find better work in Kentucky or West Virginia or they cannot find a job here and immediately start working elsewhere. However, if a local company such as the Liebert Corp. was given incentives to expand, most of those jobs would be secured by Ohioans, thus keeping our residents working in our state.

It is a classic example of putting the horse before the cart. The jobs have to be here before Ohio citizens gain employment. We hope state-level elected officials see the results of this survey and address this and the other good points the state's industrial sector brought up.

Jobs are a key issue in both Ohio and the nation. It is the industrial leaders, not politicians, who know what is best for the industry.