Setting the Record Straight: Understanding JobsOhio’s Financial Impact

A recent Ohio.news article has sparked significant discussion about JobsOhio’s performance, but it contains a fundamental miscalculation that invalidates its entire premise. The article claims JobsOhio spent $1.9 billion on economic development in 2024. This assertion is incorrect. According to the 2023 Annual Report, where you can find total expenses of $1.9 billion, JobsOhio's actual total operating expenses were $467 million. This 4x mathematical error changes every subsequent analysis in the article.

Understanding the Confusion: Two Separate Entities

The $1.9 billion figure is actually from 2023. In 2024, it was $1.7 billion and represents the combined operating expenses of two distinct entities with entirely different objectives:

JobsOhio Beverage System (JOBS) owns and manages wholesale liquor distribution for the entire state of Ohio. This self-sustaining business operation, together with the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Liquor Control, is called OHLQ and has been rated the #1 beverage system for overall best practices by independent entities.

JobsOhio is Ohio’s private non-profit economic development organization, funded by profits from JOBS – not taxpayer dollars.

These are separate organizations with separate financials serving separate purposes. Looking at 2023, since that’s the reflection of the $1.9 billion cited in the article, $1.3 billion is for the cost of goods and expenses to operate the liquor enterprise, $100 million is a supplemental payment back to the state, and here’s where the $467 million that JobsOhio spent in 2023 actually went:

• $383 million in economic development programs (loans and grants to companies)
• $26 million in salaries and benefits
• $16 million in professional services
• $12 million in administrative and support
• $29 million in marketing

To put the economic development investment in perspective, Intel alone received $140 million that year, representing just under 37.5% of JobsOhio’s grant and loan portfolio, for a transformational $28+ billion semiconductor manufacturing project and an entirely new industry for Ohio.

Understanding the jobs timeline: Economic development measures contractually committed jobs with multi-year performance windows. Jobs added in 2024 typically reflect commitments made between 2018 to 2021, as companies require three to five years (or longer for mega-projects) to build facilities and ramp up hiring. Intel, for instance, has an six-year window and won't be evaluated until 2028-2029. This is standard economic development practice across all states.

Specific Factual Corrections

Ohio's job growth: Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows Ohio added 34,000 jobs in the referenced period, not 18,000. Since 2019, JobsOhio has secured commitments for more than 145,000 new jobs and more than $60 billion in capital investment in Ohio communities. These are not projections; they are executed commitments from companies choosing Ohio to grow and hire.

The 25% claim: The article states, "only 25% of job growth came from JobsOhio sectors" as if this were a failure. The reality: JobsOhio's 10 strategic sectors represent 21.4% of Ohio's total employment base. If 25% of the state's job growth came from these sectors, they would outperform their share of the economy.

Construction impact: JobsOhio projects employ approximately 13% of all construction jobs statewide during active build phases, which is significant economic activity that doesn't appear in JobsOhio performance metrics but represents thousands of workers building Ohio's economic future.

Transparency & Accountability

JobsOhio has earned recognition as one of the most transparent economic development organizations in the nation:

• Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency: Achieved for eight consecutive years as of 2025, placing JobsOhio in the top 1% of more than 1.8 million U.S. nonprofits
• Standards for Excellence: Accreditation through rigorous peer review across eight organizational areas
• State audits: No material findings in 13 years of Ohio Auditor reviews
• Public disclosure: All executed agreements published monthly; Deloitte-audited financials are available to the public
• Performance accountability: Every agreement includes clawback provisions; independent IMPLAN economic impact studies validate returns to taxpayers.

Ohioans deserve precise information about economic development efforts so we can continue to build on our wins and shape a better path forward, not analysis built on a misreading of financial statements. JobsOhio’s annual reports, annual metrics, and monthly executed grants and loans are publicly available for anyone who wants to examine the actual data.

We welcome rigorous analysis of our performance. But that analysis should start with an accurate understanding of which organization does what, how much is actually spent on economic development, and how the economic development industry measures success. When the math is wrong by a factor of four, everything that follows needs recalculation.