Marcy Kaptur: “the favorite question of political pollsters of late is the benchmark right direction/wrong direction question: ``Do you…”

“the favorite question of political pollsters of late is the benchmark right direction/wrong direction question: ``Do you think our country is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction?'' This year, most people say ``wrong direction,'' and the reason is because our jobs are headed in the wrong direction. There is a new report out by AMTAC, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, that details the extent of the job loss in Ohio, the State I represent, just since 2000. The job washout in Ohio over the past 7 years is the worst since the Great Depression. The damage to Ohio's economy has been concentrated in the manufacturing sector. Our farmers are currently enjoying record high prices for corn, soybeans, wheat, and eggs. But manufacturing is a different story. It is the story of lost strength and of lost independence. It is the story of one of America's largest States teetering on the precipice. And the situation in Michigan is even more dire. Our Nation has lost 3.4 million jobs in manufacturing and another 700,000 in the information sector since the beginning of the Bush administration. In the past 7 years, total nonfarm employment in Ohio has declined by 3.7 percent, a loss of over 209,400 jobs, according to Dr. Charles McMillion, author of the report. In the manufacturing sector, Ohio has lost over 236,000 jobs, most of those good-paying jobs with good benefits.”