Where are the jobs?
posted by Chaz at 12:38 P.M. EST on Tue Jan 18, 2005 #
Columbus.
posted by jr at 11:28 A.M. EST on Wed Jan 19, 2005 #
Yikes! Brain drain... all the same... everyone enjoys the good life - except Toledoans.
I wonder if Columbus has brain drain?
posted by Chaz at 03:51 P.M. EST on Wed Jan 19, 2005 #
In today's news:
"The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell more than forecast last week, reflecting an improving job market as the economy grows. Initial jobless claims dropped by 48,000 during the week, the biggest decline in three years."
"Consumer spending accelerated last month and manufacturers boosted production to meet growing demand. Businesses may need to keep adding workers, lifting incomes, spending and the economy."
In today's Blade:
"An annual business forecast survey of northwest Ohio firms indicates most companies believe 2005 will be an improvement. The survey, undertaken annually by Toledo's Regional Growth Partnership, found that business executives plan a 32 percent increase in expenditures this year over 2004."
"Of greater importance to Toledo area construction workers is the projected investment of more than $128 million on buildings, up 137 percent from last year. Another hopeful sign was that the 224 respondents were optimistic about hiring. Nearly nine of every 10 expect overall employment in the region to be about the same as or higher than in 2004, and six out of 10 said they expect to hire workers this year."
"Asked to name the region's best assets, the executives cited northwest Ohio's location and its access to markets as top asset. Among others cited were high-quality workforce, the region's transportation infrastructure, Great Lakes access and water, and quality of life."
posted by jr at 06:17 P.M. EST on Wed Jan 19, 2005 #
A Blade follow-up story from last November about a study that ranked the economic and job performance of 200 cities.
"... a nationally recognized California think tank, ranked the Toledo metro area's performance as the sixth worst among the nation's 200 biggest metro areas. Though the Toledo area's ranking at 195th was the same as in 2003, it was the worst among Ohio's six largest cities. Youngstown (175th) and Gary, Ind., (194th) both rose above the Toledo metro area."
I can't find the link to the original Blade story in November about this study, but for some reason I had quotes from the story saved:
"The poor showing for metro Toledo, which includes Lucas, Fulton, Ottawa, and Wood counties, was blamed on the same problem that's faced the area for nearly a generation: a shrinking manufacturing base that continues to bleed high-paying jobs."
"Worse for metro Toledo, said the institute's Ross DeVol, is that the region lacks the entrepreneurial activity to make up for the job losses. Small and medium-sized businesses create 75 percent of new jobs and are key to shaping the new industries that spur the high-paying jobs of the future."
""Metro Toledo also has suffered from the long-term trends of low wages and job growth, as well as a low concentration of high-tech industries, according to the report."
"But there is a bright spot. Despite not having many high-tech industries, the percentage growth of the region's high-tech industries increased enough to rank the metro area 58th."
Econonmic Growth Rankings
The top 10. The best:
1. Fort Myers-Cape Coral FL
2. Las Vegas NV-AZ
3. Phoenix-Mesa AZ
4. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton FL
5. Daytona Beach FL
6. Sarasota-Bradenton FL
7. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers AR
8. Riverside-San Bernardino CA
9. Fort Lauderdale FL
10. Monmouth-Ocean NJ
The bottom 10.
191. Fort Wayne IN
192. Wichita KS
193. Hartford CT
194. Gary IN
195. Toledo OH
196. Canton-Massillon OH
197. Hickory-Morgantown-Lenoir NC
198. Flint MI
199. Saginaw-Bay City-Midland MI
200. Rockford IL
Highest ranked Ohio metro area: Hamilton-Middletown OH at #69.
Highest ranked Michigan metro area: Ann Arbor at #105
Detroit is #186.
Columbus is #138. Certainly not great.
Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria is #187.
The Milken Institute also ranked the 118 smallest metros.
1. Missoula MT
2. Las Cruces NM
3. Santa Fe NM
4. Dover DE
5. Casper WY
6. Yuma AZ
7. Flagstaff AZ
8. Billings MT
9. Redding CA
10. Sioux Falls SD
Highest Ohio small metro: Lima at #78.
Last September, an urban hardship study was released.
"The results are based on an "urban hardship" study done by by The Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, New York."
"The study calculated a hardship index score on 86 of the biggest U.S. cities, based on social variables from the year 2000, such as unemployment, poverty levels, and housing conditions."
I think "urban hardship" is a polite way of saying the worst cities to live in. The urban hardship ranking is a report that you want to be as close as possible to the bottom of.
A little more about the report: "... tracks changes in the condition of the largest cities in the most-populated metropolitan areas in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, and reports longer-term results for a group of 55 cities from 1970 to 2000."
From the Urban Hardship Update report released last year:
The Intercity Hardship Index draws together six key factors:
* Unemployment, defined as the percent of the civilian population over the age of 16
who were unemployed;
* Dependency, the percentage of the population that are under the age of 18 or over the
age of 64;
* Education, the percentage of the population over the age of 25 who have less than a
high school education;
* Income Level, the per capita income;
* Crowded Housing, measured by the percent of occupied housing units with more than
one person per room; and
* Poverty, the percent of people living below the federal poverty level.
For each city, values on these six factors are compared to a national standard, and they are
given equal weight when combined in a composite index. A higher Intercity Hardship Index score signifies worse economic conditions.
Cities with Highest Hardship in 2000
(the worst cities to live in?)
1. Santa Ana
2. Miami
3. Hartford
4. Newark
5. Gary
6. Detroit
7. Cleveland
8. Fresno
9. Los Angeles
10. Buffalo
"For Miami, Newark, Gary, Detroit, and Cleveland, high hardship rankings are familiar
territory. Each, as described more fully in Section V, has ranked among the highest hardship cities for thirty years."
Cities with Lowest Hardship in 2000
(best cities to live in?)
Seattle
Raleigh
Virginia Beach
Austin
Little Rock
Charlotte
Greensboro
Columbus
Arlington TX
Omaha
"The stalwarts on the list of lowest hardship cities are Seattle, Greensboro, and Columbus. Each has remained among the cities with lowest levels of Intercity Hardship since 1970."
"Typically, the cities with lowest hardship benefited from having relatively elastic city boundaries, an ability to capture a moderate share of metropolitan area population, comparatively high levels of newer housing, and less intense pressures from high rates of racial segregation, poverty, limited education, and unemployment than other cities."
Elastic city boundaries, that's Columbus.
1970-2000 percent change in central city population:
Columbus +31.9%
Toledo -18.3%
In the longer-term results for a group of 55 cities from 1970 to 2000, Toledo ranked pretty good. Again, being ranked closer to 55 is best.
For the 2000 ranking, Seattle was 55.
Columbus
1970 rank: 46
1980 rank: 42
1990 rank: 52
2000 rank: 53
Toledo
1970 rank: 36
1980 rank: 24
1990 rank: 26
2000 rank: 35
Flipping it around, Toledo was ranked 21 out of 55 in terms of being a good place to live. Respectable showing.
Columbus is a nice city, good IT job market, but the Toledo region has the Maumee River, Lake Erie, the Oak Openings Region, Magee Marsh, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and just up the road a bit in Michigan are Point Mouille and Lake Erie Metropark.
I'm a transplant to northwest Ohio. I chose to move here to fish in Lake Erie, which happens to be one of the best places in the country for walleye and smallmouth bass fishing. Plus there's the Maumee River walleye spawning run in the spring.
A few years ago, I got interested in birdwatching, and it just so happens that northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan are among the top 10 best areas in the country for viewing songbird and raptor migrations. The shorebirding is pretty good around here too.
I'm more interested in a region for its eco-whatever. Might sound strange, but I moved from central Ohio to the Toledo area for the fishing, I stayed for the birding, and now I have a family here.
Last fall at Magee Marsh, I met a guy birding with his daughter. He used to live in Chicago. His daughter still lives in Chicago. He retired earlier in 2004 and decided to move to the Toledo suburb of Oregon because of the birding in northwest Ohio. You just never know. All these studies, reports, and rankings, and we still have our own reasons for living where we do that don't get reported anywhere.
posted by jr at 08:01 P.M. EST on Wed Jan 19, 2005 #
"Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in January to a six-month high after the economy added more jobs and incomes grew, raising the odds that spending will spur the economy. Optimism about the current economic situation rose to the highest since May 2002. Consumer purchases probably rose at the fastest pace in more than four years from July through December, and weekly retail surveys suggest shoppers haven't let up this month."
posted by jr at 03:43 A.M. EST on Wed Jan 26, 2005 #
Lakewood, a Cleveland burb, is considering a smoking ban.
A story from a Cleveland alternative weekly. By the way, why are weekly papers called alternative? Alternative to what?
"For today's lesson, let's go to our more educated brethren in Toledo."
"That city enacted a ban in 2003. Within a year, roughly 20 bars closed. Business bottomed so hard that when they auctioned off liquor licenses -- the gold standard of the street-level economy -- no one showed up to bid. Meanwhile, 10 minutes away in Michigan, where cigs and bars had yet to divorce, business boomed."
"So police, much to their chagrin, were dispatched to bust people for Illegal Use of Ashtray. In terms of burning public resources, it was akin to sending out squads on jaywalking stings."
"Give Toledo credit. It took only a year for it to reach that inevitable "Oh, shit!" moment. Last fall, voters repealed much of the ban. Of course, they could have saved themselves the trouble by consulting the experts. That would be bar owners and their patrons."
"One year after Tempe, Arizona, enacted its ban, tax revenue from bars had fallen 31 percent. In Lakewood, that's called suicide."
posted by jr at 07:22 P.M. EST on Wed Feb 09, 2005 #
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