Northeast Ohioans Not Optimistic About Their Economy

According to a new Gallup Organization poll, Northeast Ohioans are not very chipper about their economy. See the related Cleveland Plain Dealer article on February 26, 2005, which I cannot seem to access today from the newspaper archives. (I guess bad news does not stick around at the PD, or maybe it has been replaced by some new bad news.)

Here are some concerns from the survey. 38 percent of respondents from Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark, Lorain, Medina, Geauga, Lake and Portage counties rated the region's economic conditions as negative, compared to 30 percent last year. Only 17 percent rated economic conditions as positive; a four percent drop from the previous survey. When asked about the performance of the economy in five years, respondents saying they thought it would be better fell from 47 percent last year to 36 percent in 2005.

NEO residents number one concern was jobs, with participants stating that creating new jobs and attracting new businesses to move to the region should be the highest priorities for economic development activities in Northeast Ohio.

When asked to rate how Northeast Ohio is doing at keeping jobs from leaving the area and creating new jobs, on a scale from very good to very bad, 58 percent gave a negative rating for keeping jobs from leaving and 46 percent reported a negative rating for creating new jobs. However, among individuals who reported knowing "a great deal" about economic development activities, the more positive are their feelings about how the region is doing at keeping jobs from leaving (33 percent doing a good job versus 10 percent), creating new jobs (31 percent versus 14 percent), helping businesses grow (40 percent versus 20 percent) and attracting new businesses (33 percent versus 16 percent).

The poll results indicate support for regional approaches to economic development across the region.

Read more here about the NEO poll. Also, click here to read my article "Let's Change Our Minds," which was written before I saw the Gallup results.