THREE OF THE FIVE LARGEST MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN NORTHEAST OHIO INCREASED BOTH...

THREE OF THE FIVE LARGEST MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN NORTHEAST OHIO INCREASEDBOTH EMPLOYMENT AND GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT FROM 2004 TO 2006Report produced by Cleveland State's Center for Economic Development IndicatesSeveral Major Manufacturing Industries Growing Amid a Regional DeclineCLEVELAND, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study by the Center for EconomicDevelopment at Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College ofUrban Affairs reports that three of the five largest manufacturing industriesin Northeast Ohio have increased both employment and gross product from 2004to 2006. The three industries making those gains were fabricated metalproducts, machinery and primary metals.

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"The general loss of manufacturing jobs in the region masks the fact thatcertain industries experienced gains in some economic measures. It'simportant to note that the industries that increased both employment and grossproduct account for almost 45 percent (135,900 jobs) of the totalmanufacturing employment in Northeast Ohio and that these same industries alsoincreased wages during this same time," said Dr. Ziona Austrian, Director ofthe Center for Economic Development.

The Manufacturing Brief was authored by Dr. Afia Yamoah and is availableat http://urban.csuohio.edu/economicdevelopment/publications.It shows that in 2006 the manufacturing sector in Northeast Ohio accounted forover 16 percent of the region's total employment, produced 19.5 percent ($32.8billion) of the area's total gross product, and paid relatively high averageannual wages of over $50,000.

Overall, Northeast Ohio lost 1.4 percent of its manufacturing jobs from2004 to 2006, a rate lower than the 2 percent figure for the entire state ofOhio but higher than the nationwide loss of 0.5%.

According to the CSU analysis, several manufacturing industries may berebounding from the job losses that occurred over the past few years. Northeast Ohio has recently outperformed Ohio and the United States in fourindustries: primary metals, furniture, wood products and petroleum and coalproducts.

In addition, four counties in the region---Geauga, Lake, Lorain andMedina---each added between 200 and 600 manufacturing jobs from 2004 to 2006.

"With 303,306 manufacturing jobs in Northeast Ohio, there is no questionthat manufacturing remains an extremely significant sector of the regionaleconomy," said Austrian.

The CSU study was sponsored by MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & GrowthNetwork, and the United States Economic Development Administration.SOURCE MAGNETGreg Krizman, Senior Director, Marketing, +1-216-432-5311 - office,+1-330-212-1564 - cell, greg.krizman@magnetwork.org