Thursday, February 15, 2018
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
The Quarterly Economic Indicator report released Wednesday by Team Northeast Ohio, or Team NEO, indicates the region is rebounding from the Great Recession of 2007.
The report, released in partnership with MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, also indicated the 18-county region is nearly matching pre-recession output levels and is outpacing the nation as a whole in productivity gains.
Manufacturing employment nationwide and regionwide have not been restored since the recession, according to the report. National manufacturing employment in 2017 was 12.5 million, 10 percent lower than it was in 2007. Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing employment level in 2017 was 265,000, 15 percent lower than 2007.
Northeast Ohio’s productivity, however, increased 16 percent from 2007 to 2017, compared with a U.S. increase of 12 percent for this same time period. Increases in manufacturing output are expected in the next five years in high-tech sectors, including computers and electronic products.
U.S. manufacturing employment increased only in two sectors: beverage and tobacco products and food. Northeast Ohio increased employment in four additional sectors: petroleum and coal products, leather and allied products, apparel and wood products.
Post-recession manufacturing outputs in Northeast Ohio exceeded pre-recession output in seven sectors: computer and electronic products, primary metals, nonmetallic mineral products, petroleum and coal products, leather and allied products, beverage and tobacco products and food.
Team NEO, an economic development organization focused on creating jobs for Northeast Ohio residents, uses Moody’s Economy.com, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and Ohio’s Labor Marketing Information to aggregate regional figures.