It Seems Business Leaders Kind of Agree with Corbett’s Drug Test Theory


Tom Corbett has been roundly ridiculed for chalking up Pennsylvania’s anemic job growth to job applicants failing their drug tests. Well it seems his friends in the business community aren’t laughing quite as hard.

“Asking me, ‘do you hear this from employers?’ is like asking ‘is the sky blue?’,” David Taylor, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, told Politics PA. “A manufacturing firm has to go through hundreds of applicants just to get 4 or 5 or 6 hires.”

Not because people are failing, but because they abandon their applications after finding out about the tests. PA Chamber of Business and Industry Gene Barr had a similar perspective, telling the Inquirer, “We frequently hear from member companies that this is absolutely a problem for them. It is especially an issue for industries that have a zero tolerance policy on drug and alcohol use.”

At least one labor economist, by contrast, called the issue “small potatoes,” pointing out that the problem with PA’s economy is excessive supply of workers, not a shortage of them. Meanwhile, former DEP Secretary and current gubernatorial candidate John Hanger has created a lil’ homemade YouTube about the flap, in which he accuses Corbett of “governing under the influence.”