Ohio Oil & Gas Association Touts 40,000 New Ohio Jobs; Report Says Truthfulness of Claim is in Eye of Beholder
From PolitiFact Ohio:
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But the reality and relevance of the number in the context of the ad is undermined considerably by the fact that it is not the result of surveying but of modeling; that fewer than half of its nearly 40,000 jobs are directly or indirectly related to drilling, and that the single largest element -- almost 30 percent of the jobs total -- consists of unidentified "induced" jobs.Read the whole breakdown of this claim and the accompanying report here.
We think the ad's reference to the creation of new jobs would reasonably be taken as referring to permanent or continuing jobs, not temporary employment.
Further, the touting of jobs "right here in Ohio" that are "restoring Ohio's heritage" is not supported by the substantial percentage of jobs going to out-of-state workers, even if that percentage is diminishing.
Finally, the IHS report says its figure of 38,830 jobs refers to total jobs supported by drilling during 2012, not to new jobs created in the year, as the ad claims.
And the words matter. The IHS report itself makes clear that there is a difference between jobs that are "created" by the industry -- which, in a generous reckoning, would encompass direct and indirect jobs -- and jobs that are "supported," which would be all of the 21,020 induced jobs.
That’s an important distinction that the ad ignores, and it accounts for more than half the jobs that the ad claims.
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