The report found that between 2000 and 2006 manufacturing jobs in the region declined by nearly 17 percent, while lower-paying, service industry jobs have increased.
Mark Salling, a professor at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs, says that economic shift also reflects changes in who is earning the household income. Women made up the highest entrance into the labor force, and Salling says more and more wives are going to work to make up for the drop in husbands' pay.
At the same time, productivity is going up, according to the report - which has Salling wondering, who's getting the benefits?
Mark Salling: Where's the money going? If productivity and industries located in our area are doing well and producing it would be explainable. But in aggregate the incomes have declined. The average incomes have declined. So that's not an explanation for me.
The report also shows poverty jumped 20 percent, especially among married couples and youth.
Tasha Flournoy, 90.3.