Wyandot County holds a new record as the county creating jobs at the fastest pace in the state of Ohio.
A recent Ohio State University study compiling U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data revealed that during the period from 2010 – 2018, Wyandot County delivered the highest job growth rate in the state of Ohio at 23%. This outpaced the next fastest growing county, Holmes County, by 3 percentage points, and the fastest growing major metro area, Columbus, at 18%.
This record job growth can be attributed to the joint efforts of both public and private sector leadership. Over this period of time, these community leaders created new partnerships devoting time and funding toward planning how to best serve its current business community, and to be best prepared to attract new investment.
As many associated with the Wyandot County community are aware, Wyandot is fortunate to have public leadership that rather than compete with one another, realizes that supporting others ultimately bolsters their own residents and tax revenues. The easy to navigate regulatory environment is also conducive to business development. Public leaders are easily accessible, and approvals that are controlled locally could be considered expedited when compared to larger cities. Public leadership and local school systems also do not shy away from offering assistance to an economic development project if it has a positive return on investment for their constituents.
Private sector leadership further bolstered the past decade of job growth by investing in the growth of their own operations and in turn adding new positions. New private capital was also secured through investment in previously vacant facilities. Over that time those viable, vacant facilities were rapidly occupied. Had it not been for local economic development champions investing their own private capital into new industrial and speculative facilities as well as the economic development effort, Wyandot County would not have garnered the significant addition of new industry partners, local expansions, and associated jobs it did from 2010 – 2018.
Entering 2010, Wyandot County had a lot of ground to make up from a previous decade of overall job losses, but managed to do so at a pace more rapid than any other in Ohio. Beginning in 2008, the newly created practice of local economic development became a driving force to channel the efforts of public and private leadership; a substantial aid in accomplishing the record growth Wyandot County experienced.
Source: DeMartini, A. (10 May, 2019). Ohio State News. Rural job growth rate in Ohio surpasses Columbus rate. Retrieved from website: https://news.osu.edu/rural-job-growth-rate-in-ohio-surpasses-columbus-rate/