The development of Ohio’s Utica shale has led to big increases in spending, but job growth from the shale play has been modest, according to a new report and the Columbus Dispatch.

The report, from Cleveland State University, finds the oil and gas boom is greatest in 15 eastern counties. In 2012 those counties saw a 20 percent increase in sales-tax receipts.

The increase in spending is most certainly due to the property owners who’ve received signing bonuses.

But what about the jobs?

Read it:

“Many of the workers on drilling rigs and construction projects are contractors from outside the state.”

That will change once colleges begin graduating students from new oil and gas programs.

840 wells are currently permitted in the state.

Ohio’s jobless rate is just over 7 percent. See a county-by-county map of jobless rates in Ohio. 

» Via: The Columbus Dispatch› Counties reap shale sales, but job growth still lags