Cleveland Plus Regional Economic Reviews

Each quarter, Team NEO publishes a Cleveland Plus Regional Economic Review.  Each edition contains up to date information on employment, gross regional product, and real estate.  However, in each report we take a closer look at a key competitive asset that Cleveland Plus possesses. 

March 2009 + Biomedical is a Driving Force in the Cleveland Plus Economy

The latest edition of the quarterly Cleveland Plus® Economic Review puts a focus on the region’s biomedical sector. Findings include:

  • The Cleveland Plus region’s bio sector has grown an average of 7.4% annually, outpacing the U.S. average of 6.8%
  • NEO Bio GRP has grown more than 37% over the past five years
  • The share of the total NEO GRP for biomedical sector has increased 33% - from 2.1 to 2.8 over the past five years
  • In the past 5 years, the State of Ohio has attracted $783.9 million in VC funds
  • The Cleveland Plus region has attracted 60% of these funds: $493.2 million since 2006

Click here for full report.

December 2008 + Regional Strength in Headquarters

This edition of the Northeast Ohio Economic Review is a focus on the Cleveland Plus regional strength in headquarters.

  • Cleveland Plus headquarters employment is strong, ranking the 10th in terms of total HQ employment and 4th highest in the nation when adjusted for scale.
  • Cleveland Plus has 60% more headquarters employment than the national average, supported by a higher than average share of the operational headquarters occupations, such as Chief Executive, General and Operations Managers.

Charts and data contained within this report include location quotient for headquarters, headquarters occupations, employment, vacancy and gross regional product. Click here for full report.

September 2008 + Focus on Office Real Estate

This edition of the Northeast Ohio Economic Review looks at office real estate in the Cleveland Plus region.

  • Today, the Cleveland Plus region has more occupied space than anytime in the past 5 years with total occupied space having increased to almost 112 million square feet.
  • In addition, vacancy rates have drastically decreased by nearly 6% in the past 5 years.

Charts and data contained within this report include office space use, occupancy and vacancy, employment, unemployment, and gross regional product. Click here for full report.

June 2008 + Focus on Industrial Real Estate

Team Northeast Ohio looks at the overall climate of industrial real estate in our 16-county Cleveland Plus™ region. The industrial real estate market is strong, and demand is growing in Northeast Ohio. Charts and data contained within this report include industrial space use, occupancy and vacancy, employment, unemployment, and gross regional product. Click here for full report.

March 2008 + Industry and Talent Forecast

The first edition in 2008 of our quarterly Northeast Ohio Economic Review begins by comparing our mix of industries with the U.S. as a whole, and then focuses on projections for the next 10 years.

  • While noting that Manufacturing and Headquarters Industry Sectors in the Cleveland Plus™ Region Have Higher Share Than U.S
  • This report also finds that finance, insurance, and health care comprise a larger portion of the Northeast Ohio economy than they do nationally.
  • Also, projections indicate that higher paying jobs will grow faster, meaning that Northeast Ohio's workforce is expected to continue to gain more talent and skills.

Click here for full report.

December 2007 + Talent & Cost of Living Comparison

This installment takes a deeper look at the occupations that are growing and the effect our mix of jobs has on the standard of living in Northeast Ohio.

  • Higher paying jobs are growing faster
  • Cleveland Plus cost of living is more than 10% lower than the national average.
  • Northeast Ohio unemployment rate has decreased, while U.S. rate is on the rise.
  • In addition, employment is on track to be the highest since 2002.

Key data and indicators included: occupational change & annual wage, metropolitan area comparison of per capita income adjusted for cost of living comparison, regional employment and regional real GRP. Click here for full report.

September 2007

Our economy's growth of 32% in the last 15 years surprises many. Regional unemployment has risen slightly from last year, as has job seekers. Jobs are at a 5 year high. Ohio manufacturers have improved output by 50% since the early 1990s. Key data and indicators included: Real GRP changes by sector & manufacturing sector, manufacturing productivity & employment, unemployment. Click here for full report.

June 2007

Northeast Ohio continues to grow, although moderately. 2007 is expected to be the sixth consecutive year of growth. Key data & indicators included: employment, wages, GRP, as well as output, employment and productivity for key sectors. Click here for full report.

March 2007

Overall, the economy remains stable, with a modest gain in regional gross product and generally steady employment levels. Surprising to some, our manufacturing sector is stronger than most believe. Key data and indicators included: unemployment, employment and wages, wage comparison, housing permits & value, as well as manufacturing GRP, employment & wages. Click here for full report.

Data Sources
Team NEO uses a number of data sources for the Regional Economic Review. One of the primary sources is the Moody’s Economy.com (www.economy.com) regional modeling system. This firm is the leading independent provider of economic, financial and industry research and data that specializes in national and metropolitan economic growth forecasts. Moody’s Economy.com county level output, employment and payroll historical data are estimated from several publicly available sources and are summarized into the Team NEO regional footprint. It is important to understand data provided by Economy.com are estimates of economic activity.

Team NEO also uses data from federal and state sources as part of the report. As with Economy.com, the information for the Team NEO footprint is derived from data reported at either the county or metropolitan level. We rely heavily on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) and Ohio’s Labor Market Information (www.lmi.state.oh.us) for information on wages, unemployment and both general and industry-specific employment. In addition, Team NEO uses data from the Census (www.census.gov) to track housing-related activity including the number of single and multifamily permits, as well as their values.