In 2013, Gov. Tom Corbett was blasted by political opponents for citing drug use and failure to pass drug tests as reasons for stubbornly high jobless figures in Pennsylvania. While fielding questions about the state’s unemployment rate, Corbett said he had talked with employers, particularly manufacturers, who said “we’re looking for people, but we can’t find anybody that has passed a drug test.”

Liberal commentators jumped on Corbett’s statements, with one blogger writing a column titled, “Don’t blame the druggies, Tom Corbett.” Other critics jumped on Corbett’s use of the word “anybody,” implying that employers literally could not find a single worker who could pass a drug test.

That dustup was about politics, but there should have been a serious discussion about drug tests becoming an obstacle for job seekers and employers looking for fill positions.

This week, a press release from the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association (PMA) reported that a survey of 200 manufacturers found that about one-third of prospective employees either failed to pass a pre-employment drug test or did not show up to take the test.

Critics pounced on Corbett’s comments in 2013, painting it as out-of-touch and comparing it to Ronald Reagan seeming to blame “welfare queens” for high entitlement costs and federal budget deficits. Democrats suggested Corbett offered the story of employers being frustrated by prospective workers failing drug tests as an excuse for his administration’s failure to create more jobs.

But even in 2013, many employers, especially manufacturers looking to fill low-skill, low-wage jobs, were nodding their heads in agreement at the governor’s statement about high rates of drug-test failures.

The PMA survey, conducted by Tel Opinion Research, found that 19 percent of job applicants either refused to take a pre-employment drug test or did not show up to take the test.

The survey reported that 60 percent of businesses polled used some kind of drug testing as a condition of employment. It’s a sad fact that drug use is so prevalent that drug testing is necessary and that it eliminates at least a third of applicants.

But in the case of certain jobs, particularly manufacturing or any job involving operating equipment or driving a vehicle, drug testing is a safety issue — not only for the employees themselves, but also for co-workers.

Drug use is clearly an issue preventing some jobs from being filled. But there is no-doubt still a mismatch between available jobs and the skills of job seekers. In some cases, schools have failed to equip student with the skills necessary for today’s jobs. In some cases, remedial programs and community colleges are addressing this issue.

It’s also true, but not well understood by young people seeking entry-level jobs, that many lower-level jobs require skills beyond a strong back, as was often the case 40 or 50 years ago when this region boasted plenty of laboror jobs in steel mills.

The PMA survey results probably didn’t raise many eyebrows this week. Most manufacturers already know about the drug problem. For years, there has been plenthy of anecdotal evidence from manufacturers that drug use was a problem and drug tests were a major obstacle to filling job openings.

Corbett should have have chosen his words more carefully in his 2013 comments. But he wasn’t wrong to say drug use and failed drug tests are a problem for manufacturers looking to hire employees. The conversation should now move on to what can be done about the problem.