Monday, August 17, 2015
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
From ice cream to steel, a host of products made in the Mahoning Valley also have a home base here.
Within Trumbull and Mahoning counties, there are 65 headquarters, according to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Having about 2,100 professional-service businesses is another economy booster for both counties, the chamber notes. These businesses include legal, accounting, engineering, design and consulting, scientific research and development, advertising and related services.
“We are fortunate that the area is home to a number of diverse companies, from food distribution and manufacturing to financial companies and consulting services,” said Sarah Boyarko, vice president of economic development for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. “The fact that we also have professional services available to support these companies allows us multiple opportunities to attract new business to our region.”
Team NEO, a private-sector, regional collaboration of Northeast Ohio’s businesses, foundations, chambers of commerce, economic-development organizations and JobsOhio, analyzed the economic impact of the headquarters and professional-services sector within the 18-county Northeast Ohio region for its quarterly economic indicator report.
The headquarters and professional services of this region make up the third-largest sector, after health care and manufacturing.
Team NEO found about 21,000 jobs were created within Northeast Ohio through headquarters and professional services from 2000 to 2015 for an 18 percent increase.
Today, 137,000 are employed in the headquarters and professional-services sector, which makes up 8 percent of total employment.
The sector outperformed the overall region through its gross regional product, or the market value of all final goods and services. This sector’s GRP grew by 40 percent from 2000 to 2015. GRP in the headquarters and professional-services sector is expected to grow 16 percent in the next decade.
Headquarters and professional services accounted for more than $19 billion of the Northeast Ohio economy in 2015, according to the Team NEO report.
The employment levels of this sector are expected to grow an additional 10 percent, or 12,000 jobs, by 2025.
“It is a highly educated field, and it is a highly paid field,” said Jacob Duritsky, vice president of strategy and research at Team NEO. “A lot of decisions are being made here. A final element is the philanthropy that comes from having headquarters here. That’s why we think maintaining a strong headquarter environment is extremely important.”
In the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, Northeast Ohio was ranked fourth in 2014 for concentration of headquarter employment – after San Francisco/Oakland, Calif., St. Louis, Mo., and Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minn.
Team NEO suggests a number of reasons why companies choose this area including low business cost, robust workforce, the educational institutions here, logistics, communications infrastructure and quality of life.
“Corporations, including many Fortune 1000 companies, recognize that Northeast Ohio offers the resources and business climate they need to thrive,” said Bill Koehler, chief executive officer of Team NEO.