How Does NE Ohio Stack Up?

The Center for Regional Economic Issues at Case Western Reserve University has released a new report comparing NE Ohio to comparably-sized U.S. metro areas. It's interesting and thought-provoking data.

What does it mean to NE Ohio communities? That is a question you should be asking yourself as you read the presentation.

It tells me that NEO is:

1. Holding its own in some areas of technological innovation.
2. Population is growing slowly.
3. Jobs are growing slowly.
4. Personal income is growing slowly.
5. Manufacturing employment is still very important to the region.
6. With a total regional economic output of $106 billion, NEO still produces a lot of stuff--both goods and services.
7. Finally, we are lagging in terms of educational attainment.

These are the numbers that our local and regional economic development programs must impact over the next 5-10 years. How much of an impact can we have? That is the all important question. I believe if we work together we can raise our impact. Also, we must focus on what is most important. For one, we need to give much greater attention to educational attainment and excellence in the region.

We have a lot of work to do. I believe NEO economic developers are up to the task.

What is the new economic development model that we need to adopt to improve our future impact. Download my new Ohio Development Association presentation here.

Download the REI report here. (Caution: big file with lots of hard to navigate graphics.) But an excellent piece of work by Greg Stoup at REI.