A few days after the state announced a new EV battery plant - bringing 2,500 jobs to the region - in Fayette County, it may have seemed like a plan to make Ohio a national powerhouse for business was already moot.

But many things hold back business progress in the Buckeye State, and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce has a few thoughts about how to change that. Ohio Chamber CEO Steve Stivers and Justin Barnes, executive director of the Chamber's Research Foundation, rolled the plan out Thursday in Chillicothe.

Barnes talked about the methodology and fact-gathering that the Blueprint is based upon. Stivers noted that the state has never had such a concerted effort. In contrast, other areas with successful business climates, such as North Carolina, have had more than one 10-year plan to keep the economy chugging along. 

Some items in the report that Ross County might find interesting:

• Ohio still needs more than 62,000 workers to return to the February 2020 employment numbers. Local and regional officials are currently drilling down into the barriers to finding a job to find out how to get more folks back to work.
• Ohio's childcare, on average, is more costly than rent. 
• More than 3.2 million Ohioans pay an additional 2% or more for local income tax - on top of state income tax.
• Ohio has lower amounts of small business lending than comparative states.
• The Mercatus Center ranks Ohio 47th for regulatory barriers, with more than 274,000 regulations on business.

Stivers said the plan is designed to be a 10-year effort. He, Barnes, and Rick Carfagna, senior VP of government affairs for the Chamber, will continue a statewide tour to tout their plan before working with them the new Legislature after Jan. 1 to help push for reform. 

Special thanks to those who attended and Pickaway-Ross Adult Education for hosting the Blueprint rollout.