Q2 2011 Cleveland Plus Makes Steady Progress Toward Recovery
8/22/2011
For additional information, contact:
Jenny Febbo
216.363.5426 (o)
440.258.8805 (c)
jfebbo@teamneo.org
CLEVELAND PLUS MAKES STEADY PROGRESS TOWARD RECOVERY
Team NEO Report Offers a Statistical
Look at the 16-County Regional Economy
CLEVELAND, August 22, 2011 — With growing employment and an unemployment rate that is outperforming the national average, the Northeast Ohio economy continues to improve, reports the quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review, released today by Team NEO. Cleveland Plus has now posted year-over-year employment increases for the past five consecutive quarters.
Notably, construction jobs grew by 17.3% Q2 over Q1, representing a year-over-year increase of 3.5%. Manufacturing and service jobs are seeing year-over-year gains as well.
Supporting statistics include the following:
Cleveland Plus Employment Grows
- Employment rose 2%, by nearly 41,000 jobs, Q2 2011 over Q1 2011.
- Employment grew by almost 25,000 jobs in Q2 2011 as compared with Q2 2010, to 1.95 million workers.
Unemployment Rate Continues to Improve Faster Than National Average
- Northeast Ohio outperformed both Ohio (8.7%) and the U.S. (8.9%) with its Q2 2011 unemployment rate of 8.5%.
- June represented the fourth consecutive month Cleveland Plus has outperformed the national average.
Construction, Service and Manufacturing Employment Rises
- From Q1 to Q2 2011, construction employment climbed 17.3%, while service jobs grew 2.3% and manufacturing 2.1%.
- Year-over-year, employment gains were as follows: construction 3.5%, manufacturing 2% and services 1.2%.
Unemployment Claims Head Downward
- For Q2 2011, continued claims averaged 41,000 but dropped to 35,600 in July, representing a year-over-year decrease of 25,000 and the lowest level since November 2007.
Cleveland Plus Employment Tracks Even to U.S.
- The Northeast Ohio employment index continues to mirror the U.S. index, with both almost 4.5% lower than the employment level of Q4 2007.
- Through 15 quarters of the 2007 recession, the Northeast Ohio employment index is almost identical to that of the U.S. This regional recovery compares with a dramatic gap through 15 quarters of the 1981 recession, when Cleveland Plus trailed the national average by 7%.
Team NEO publishes the Cleveland Plus Economic Review quarterly to provide a holistic picture of Northeast Ohio’s economy. It is the only regular source of collective economic data for the 16-county region. The non-profit organization uses the information to attract new businesses and jobs to the Cleveland Plus region.
Team NEO uses Moody’s Economy.com data, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Ohio’s Labor Marketing Information to aggregate regional figures.
Team NEO advances Northeast Ohio’s economy by attracting businesses worldwide to the 18-county Cleveland Plus region. The organization is a joint venture of the region's largest metro chambers of commerce. Since 2007, the organization has attracted 47 new company expansions or relocations, 3,800 new jobs and more than $151M in annual payroll to Northeast Ohio, leading to a total annual regional payroll benefit of $257M.
Click here to download the Q2 2011 Cleveland Plus Quarterly Economic Review
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