Food, Beverage Manufacturing Employment Outpaces Nation
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Food and beverage manufacturing employment grew 21% in northeastern Ohio from 2007 to 2016, compared to 5% nationwide, reports the quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review released today by Team Northeast Ohio.
This growth is expected to continue over the next decade, with projections of 14% growth for the 18-county region and 10% growth for the U.S. as a whole.
“As employment for many other manufacturing sectors declined from 2007 to 2016, food manufacturing employment grew to almost 22,000 employees as major brands continue to thrive in the region,” said Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler. “Over the past five years, 39 food-related companies have made investments here.”
Growth in food and agricultural businesses results from the state’s “a robust value chain, proximity to markets, abundance of fresh water and access to efficient energy” said Joe Needham, JobsOhio director for food and agribusiness.
Northeast Ohio has contributed to this strength with gross regional product growth of 9.5% from 2007 to 2016. Over the same period, the U.S. saw an 11% decline in GDP.
TeamNEO lists other notable economic indicators related to northeastern Ohio’s 18 counties:
- Total employment is at 1.935 million.
- Employment has increased by 11,800 jobs year-over-year.
- The unemployment rate has increased year-over-year.
- NEO unemployment averaged 5.4 percent in Q3 2016, an increase from 4.7 percent in Q3 2015.
- The services sector has grown year-over-year.
- The services sector has added almost 13,000 jobs since Q3 2015.
- Well production activity continues to grow.
- There are 1,022 wells in production statewide.
Team NEO publishes the Cleveland Plus Economic Review quarterly. The nonprofit organization uses Moody’s Economy.com and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and Ohio’s Labor Marketing Information to aggregate regional figures.
SOURCE: Team NEO
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
