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Northeast Ohio Wages Slip While Higher-Paid Jobs Recover

Healthcare jobs were a source of growth in Northeast Ohio. (ideastream file photo)
Cleveland Clinic

Ohioans’ average hourly pay has diminished about half a percentage point since 2007. It puts the state below the national average and behind neighbors Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where pay grew 3 percent.

But change is afoot in Ohio. Wages may be slipping overall, but higher-paying jobs are taking up a bigger share of the marketplace, especially in the Cleveland area, according to Federal Reserve researcher Joel Elvery.

"In the recession, what happened is there was a lot of job loss in lower-wage, lower-skilled occupations," Elvery said. "And then in the recovery, what's happened is there’s just been stronger gains in the high-skilled, higher-wage occupations."

One growing sector in the Cleveland area: doctors and other high-skilled healthcare workers. They’ve seen their wages rise.

But Elvery said hiring has flattened out in lower-skilled healthcare work. And those new higher-paying jobs haven’t made up for the overall losses the region suffered during the Great Recession.

Nick Castele was a senior reporter covering politics and government for Ideastream Public Media. He worked as a reporter for Ideastream from 2012-2022.