Report: NE Ohio economy improves
By Karl Henkel
Team Northeast Ohio, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that tracks economic data for the 16-county “Cleveland Plus” region, reported the area continued to improve early in 2011.
Employment grew by almost 40,000 jobs in the first quarter compared with 2010, according to the report, the first year-over-year first-quarter increase since 2007.
The data also show Northeast Ohio’s unemployment rate is falling faster than the national average. Unemployment dropped 2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same time in 2010; national unemployment rates fell 1 percent.
“From an overall economic perspective, Northeast Ohio is faring as well as the rest of the nation and, in some cases, even better,” Team NEO CEO Tom Waltermire said. “For the first time in 10 years, our unemployment rate was lower than the U.S. for two out of the last six months, and we have experienced four consecutive quarters — an entire year — of employment gains.”
The Mahoning Valley’s overall unemployment rate was 10.3 percent in March; April’s figures are expected to be released Friday. The national unemployment rate rose slightly in April to 9 percent.
The largest-sector gains in Northeast Ohio in the past year were services, which added 19,000 jobs; manufacturing, which added 5,900; and construction, which saw a 3,500-job increase.
Real Gross Regional Product, the total market value of all goods and services produced in a region, is expected to grow 2.5 percent in 2011.
Last year, it rose 1.9 percent, the first time it had increased since 2005.
Cleveland Plus includes Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Carroll, Stark, Summit, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Wayne, Lorain, Ashland and Richland counties.
Team NEO uses Moody’s Economy.com data, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Ohio’s Labor Marketing Information to aggregate regional statistics.