Ensuring Success

By Joan Slattery Wall

How can public policy and public administration ensure the full opportunity that Intel’s central Ohio arrival could bring locally and to Ohio and the nation? 

Intel is investing $50 million directly in Ohio higher education institutions including Ohio State to establish comprehensive and collaborative programs to accelerate readiness and enable the workforce needed for operations of its new semiconductor fabrication facilities and of ecosystem partners. The investments will provide resources for creating new curriculums for associate and undergraduate degrees, certifications, faculty training, reskill and upskill programs for the existing workforce, laboratory equipment upgrades and research supporting semiconductor fabrication innovation.  

Josh Hawley, director of the Ohio Education Research Center (OERC), a unit of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, said Intel will need high paying jobs in direct services along with low-wage positions. 

“It will drive up demand for all kinds of workers, everything from your plumber to housekeeper. So there are lots of positive spillovers,” he said. 

He’s concerned, however, that too many of the high wage jobs will come from people moving to Ohio.  

Lisa Patt-McDaniel, CEO of the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, said much of the talent needed by Intel already exists in local employees with transferable skills.  

“Intel is essentially advanced manufacturing; that’s not a skillset we don’t have,” she said. 

Another example: Construction workers who don’t need advanced training and could start work immediately.  

“It’s very possible you could get a job there now and will be working on that site for 20 years because they’ll be adding additional fabrication facilities,” she said, pointing out that Intel has indicated it could expand beyond its planned two new fabrication plants to eight.

The local housing market already shows effects that the potential influx of new Intel employees brings for supply and demand and pricing.

“One of the awesome things about Intel is it’s going to raise property values; one of the scary things about Intel is it’s going to raise property values,” said Stephanie Moulton, a Glenn College professor whose expertise includes housing and consumer finance.

“For people who already own homes, this is a good thing. But for people who haven't yet purchased homes, already the Columbus housing market is one of strongest in the country in terms of our house price growth,” she said. “Prices have just boomed since COVID, and the population is growing, which means demand for housing and homes is increasing and supply can't keep up with that demand, so you end up having really high prices.

“I think about the missing middle and first-time homeowners,” Moulton says.

Intel’s arrival could provide opportunities for faculty research and student experiential learning.

While much of the focus has been on the recruitment of employees in engineering or construction, Intel’s arrival might amplify the need for Glenn College graduates in areas including city planners, finance and budgeting, policymaking and government relations.

In fact, Patt-McDaniel said, opportunities for internships could increase as local governments need additional staffing and fresh perspectives.

“We need people going into public service who have the ability to take a wide-angle view even if they’re working on one part of it,” she said. “I honestly think that when you’re in the policy and government seat, you have the ability to do so much good to set the conditions for everything else to work.”