Over the next two years, Ohio will spend $24.8 million on the Department of Development’s “Investment in Training” program (OITP). Under the program, “OITP provides up to a 50 percent reimbursement to fund instructional costs, materials and training-related activities” for companies in Ohio.

OITP has an emphasis on manufacturing jobs, though this is not a prerequisite. Bottom line, there are three “triggers” that supposedly make a company eligible for reimbursement under this program:

1) A company must be deemed to be creating jobs;
2) Making capital investments; or
3) Training their employees.

There is no consideration given to how much these companies are actually worth. Meaning that even the richest, most profitable companies around can still pass 50 percent of the costs for workforce development onto the state of Ohio.

According to the program’s 2006 Annual Report, most of the 333 entities listed received reimbursements of at least $10,000. Following is an example of companies deemed in need of a little corporate welfare:

Daimler Chrysler - $1 million
General Motors - $303,000
Lane Bryant - $150,000
Wendy’s International - $150,000
Progressive Insurance Company - $100,000

In deed, the program seems to be nothing more than corporate welfare. Companies that can and should pay to train their workforce are given the opportunity to pass the bill on to Ohioans - with help from the Department of Development.

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