Forbes.com quotes a survey by employment firm ManPower Group, which suggests some optimism for fall hiring. Toledo ranks 9th nationally, ahead of places like Boston, San Diego, and Cincinnati.
24-percent of employers in the Glass City expect to hire in the fall, compared to 7-percent that expect to decrease their payroll.
David Black is a professor of Economics at the University of Toledo. He says on the surface, the numbers sound promising. But Black says the reality check remains…that Toledo’s unemployment rate is currently 8.2 percent….
“…almost a full percentage point above the national average," he concludes. "In 2008, we had 310,000 jobs. After mid-2008, when the recession hit, we went down to about 290,000. So we lost 20,000 jobs. Since 2008 to the present, there’s been some growth from 290 (thousand)...it’s now about 295 (thousand).”
Black says upticks in the automotive sector – as well as the Hollywood Casino opening – may be behind the brighter employment outlook for Toledo.