Gov. Angus King’s economic-development strategy is ambitious. His decision to concentrate his energy on investment and jobs is welcome. The administration concedes it needs to refine its tactics to stimulate general business growth. In addition, it should its sights on a solid target: northern rural Maine.

Improving the state unemployment rate overall is a reasonable objective. It would be a logical outcome of an effective economic development strategy. But the right target would be even more precise. If the King plan works, Washington County should be at the bull’s-eye.

Last week, the governor and Tom McBrierty, commissioner of economic and community development, took the administration’s new plan on the road, making public presentations in Portland and Bangor. The approach is promising and realistic, not revolutionary. Maine will target specific industries for encouragement and investment. Marine science, specialized services, software and biotech are among the favorites.

The sense of movement in Maine is unarguable. What should be defined more clearly is where development energy is directed.

Christopher St. John of the Maine Center for Economic Policy reacted favorably to the governor’s plan, but questioned whether the initiative would create jobs where they are most needed and improve the quality of life for residents who usually are well out of range when the state identifies its investment and development targets.

In Washington County, where workers have watched economic development strategies come and go, they’re still waiting for the economic tide to come in. The Maine Department of Labor’s most recent unemployment figures, for November, provide a snapshot of where the action is, and isn’t.

The statewide unemployment rate of 5.8 percent compares favorably with the national rate of 5.3 percent, but there are wide disparities in county-by-county peformance.

Cumberland County has the lowest unemployment rate, 3.3 percent, but the two Maines are painfully evident as one travels northeast. Penobscot County is doing respectably, at 6.3 percent, but the 8.3 percent rate in Washington County, chronically near the bottom, reflects economic isolation and neglect.

The worst unemployment is 9.3 percent in Aroostook County, which is hitting bottom as a result of the Loring closure and layoffs in the retail industry. State and federal initiatives should help that county, over time. Sears Island’s cargo port, part of the governor’s strategy, will create economic energy in Penobscot and Waldo counties that should stimulate the state’s heartland.

But what of Washington County, where Eastport’s port development shines like a lonely beacon? There will be no casino, if the governor has his way. The big-time slump in Canadian retail continues; so do pockets of chronic poverty and underemployment.

The governor has a good plan. It needs refinement and a measure of success. Why not strive to reduce by half the difference between Washington County’s unemployment and the state average in the next five years?