The economic report card for the region is as diverse as the industries that continue to grow and shrink here. Total employment in the region is at its highest in five years. Yet, unemployment has dropped by only one tenth of one percent in 16 counties of Northeast Ohio in the last quarter while it dropped half a point nationally.
Industries such as finance and health care are filling some of the holes left by the loss of manufacturing jobs. But, some segments of manufacturing-chemical and transportation-are seeing growth again.
Cleveland State's Economic Development Professor Ned Hill, who spoke at the Team NEO event, says that's exactly what he found in his research too.
Ned Hill: The chemistry industry is a vital industry to this region. We have a chemical economy. It's more than polymers. A lot of health care is also chemistry. And now you saw the chemical industry start to gross, we're now three times the national average in terms of chemistry.
Hill says corporate headquarters, banking, hospital sectors are seeing the most growth and productivity in the region. Hill and Federal Reserve of Cleveland CEO & President Sandra Pianalto told the audience of business and community leaders that math and science education remain the key to the region's economic revival.
Tasha Flournoy, 90.3.