"Especially precarious".
The phrase leaps off the page of the Great Lakes Economic Initiative report published by the Brookings Institution, describing the Northeast Ohio region's slow economic recovery.
Other reports have shown indications of improvement, but this one places the recovery of the Cleveland-Elyria corridor in the bottom fifth of 100 Metropolitan areas... a grouping it shares with Youngstown, Toledo, Dayton, and Detroit.
Brookings Fellow Howard Wial does see some statistical positives - saying there is really just ONE major indicator that's holding Cleveland's overall score so low.
HOWARD WIAL:
"The unemployment rate is down - now below the national average. Jobs are growing. The one thing that is not growing very much compared to other places, is the size of the overall economy - Gross Metropolitan Product."
He says that low scoring mostly reflects just how hard Northeast Ohio was hit during the recession, and that on recovery alone, the region is NOT in the bottom 20, but ranking closer to 70th.
And he sees encouraging signs looking toward the rest of the year.
HOWARD WIAL:
"You could see the growth of manufacturing over the last year as a positive. It hasn't been enough to boost you into the league of top performers, but it certainly has kept you out of the cellar."
Near the top of the list is southern neighbor Pittsburgh.
With similar economies and concerns, Wial says the difference is that health and education sectors there occupy a greater percentage of the regional economy than in Cleveland's, which still suffers from manufacturing's woes….
But Cleveland actual boasts a better 'recovery', because the schools and hospitals in Western Pennsylvania aren't rehiring - as are the factories here.
And Wial cautions `not' to look for a leap in statistical rankings soon, because the next quarter's numbers will include the hit taken by the auto industry and its suppliers, following Japan's earthquake and tsunami.
