Plan to spur state economy receives a boost

Gov. Ted Strickland unveiled a plan Wednesday to spur economic growth in Ohio, an approach that would include creating an upbeat image of the state as a good place to do business.

Thursday, that strategy received an unexpected boost: A proposal to give most full-time workers seven paid sick days a year won't be on the November ballot.

No state now has such a requirement. The governor had opposed the issue on the grounds it would chase jobs away from Ohio. Strickland realizes we need to attract jobs, as Ohio's jobless rate hit 7.2 percent this summer.

Thursday, members of an advocacy group that supported the sick-day mandate - Ohioans for Healthy Families - agreed with a request by Strickland to keep the issue off the November ballot.

''It became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid,'' said Becky Williams, president of the Service Employees International Union District 1199, said Thursday.

Announcing his economic development plan Wednesday, Strickland noted the state's current selling points: a low cost of living, a 10-year record of growing exports, and the phasing out of a general tax on corporate profits.

In an effort to make Ohio an attractive place to do business, putting the burden of paid sick days on business owners wouldn't help. The National Federation of Independent Business in Ohio released a study in August that said a sick-day mandate would cost the state 75,000 jobs in the next five years.

Supporters of the sick-day issue intend to support a nearly identical federal measure that would require businesses to offer paid sick days to their employees. They'll have an advocate in U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who also is state development director, said a federal law would apply to all states. In that sense, it would be evenhanded. Whether it would be fair to burden business owners with the expense is another matter.