Moving Cleveland Above the Trend: Benchmarking Regional Performance (Presentation)

About the Study Model for understanding and predicting economic growth in U.S. mid-sized regional economies similar to Cleveland and NEO Analyzed structural and policy-based factors and looked for outperformers - what can Cleveland learn about their public policies and programs? Used a multi-stage process collecting 43 variables associated with regional growth, including educational attainment, business composition, regional assets, and quality of lifeThe mid-sized regional economies analyzed encompass 135 metro areas, and includes populations spanning from 352,823 to 3.9 million Used factor analysis as a data-reduction technique to identify factors influencing growth in mid-sized regional economies: *Innovation and Talent*Entrepreneurship in High Cost Areas*New Residential Centers*Retirement Destinations*Polarization Used regression analysis to determine the relationship between these factors and regional growth in employment, gross regional product (output), and per capita incom

The Influence of Research Universities on Technology-Based Regional Economic Development

Universities are frequently assumed to be essential contributors to regional economic development although conclusive evidence that universities trigger economic growth within their region does not exist. This dissertation presents a model that characterizes the influence of university research on regional economic outcomes, changes of total regional employment and gross metropolitan product. The model controls for industry research activity and incorporates differences in regional industrial organization. The model compares the influence of university research and industry research on changes of regional employment and gross metropolitan product during the expansion (1998-2001) and contraction (2002-2004) phases of the business cycle and over the entire time period studied (1998-2004). In addition, the dissertation tests the impact of university size and reputation on regional economic outcomes in conjunction with industry research. The models are tested on the universe of metropolitan statistical areas. Lessons from the dissertation research are drawn to inform state and local technology-based development strategie

NEO GRIDs Performance in 2020

The Center for Economic Development identified 33 driver industries in the 2019 report titled “Northeast Ohio Front Runners: Groups of Regional Industry Drivers (GRIDs).” GRIDs are wealth-creating industries that pay high wages, have a robust regional specialization, and contribute to the economy through regional supply chains. However, in this year alone, the U.S. and Ohio economies have seen a trade war with China, retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, the collapse of oil prices, and mandatory business closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These events contributed to the already ongoing cyclical repression, and impacted the wealth creation of Northeast Ohio’s (NEO)3 GRIDs. This research brief represents an update on the consequences of COVID-19 on GRIDs, specifically the Professional Services, Growing Legacy Manufacturing, and Oil and Gas GRIDs, to investigate what factors allowed for some industries to grow while others experienced a considerable downturn

From Economic Slowdown to Recession

The most recent recession, known as the “Great Recession,” began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. The recession affected the entire U.S., but its impacts were not uniform. Unfortunately, Ohio was a primary example of the recession’s iniquities as the recession lasted five months longer here compared to the rest of the nation. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we face further uncertainty and another recession with economic activity contracting “sharply and abruptly” across the entire U.S. This research brief examines the state of the economy in the U.S. and Northeast Ohio pre-pandemic (2019) and provides an analysis of the immediate impacts of social distancing measures and mandated closures in 2020

The NASA Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2020

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, located in Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, creates vast economic benefits within the regional economies of Northeast Ohio and Ohio by employing local labor, paying high wages to their employees who spend most of their income locally, engaging local contractors, and collaborating with local higher education institutions, providing them with research grants and contracts. This study uses a multi-regional input-output (I-O) model to estimate the effect of NASA Glenn Research Center\u27s spending on the economies of Northeast Ohio and Ohio. For the total economic impact in the state of Ohio in 2020, the researchers found NASA Glenn accounted for a growth in output (sales) of $1.8 billion, value added (output less intermediary goods) of$1.1 billion, nearly 9,000 supported jobs, $806 million in labor income, and$155 million in tax revenue. This report is part of an ongoing research partnership between the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University, and NASA Glenn, since 2000

Navigating Government Statistics of Small Businesses for Pandemic Assistance

This brief examines various sources of government statistics to assist in understanding the scope of small businesses, the legal structure of their operations, and their distribution by industry in the Northeast Ohio (NEO) region. Under the current restrictions for business operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many entrepreneurs and small businesses need assistance to maintain cash flow and to retain both their employees and customers. Governments at all levels have developed business assistance programs to help small businesses; more recently, some of these programs have revised their rules. To illustrate who might be affected by the changing rules, several sources of government statistics can be used to define how many companies operate as a small business in the region. Entrepreneurs and small businesses play a crucial role in the regional economy, and for a successful recovery, it is imperative that small businesses and entrepreneurs stay afloat during this pivotal period

Pandemic Related Housing Assistance, December 2020

The COVID-19 disease has resulted in a worldwide pandemic. Over 85 million worldwide confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in a single year (2020) with more than 1.8 million of those cases resulting in death. The United States reported over 20 million confirmed cases in 2020 with over 300,000 deaths. This is a public health crisis that has resulted in widespread government response including event cancellations/prohibitions, stay-at-homes orders, the closure of nonessential businesses, and more. Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio declared a state of emergency on 3/9/2020 immediately following the first case reported in the state. On 3/13/2020, President Donald Trump declared the viral disease a national emergency. On 3/27/2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law. This is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill that is meant to respond to the social and economic upheaval the disease has caused. This is the largest stimulus package passed in the United States to date. The pandemic has damaged not only health systems, but social and economic systems as well. One effect of COVID-19 has been mass housing instability, which is predominantly due to evictions. Many people have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. This leaves them with little income to pay their bills, including rent/mortgage and utilities, forcing them to face consequences such as eviction or utility shutoffs. As a result of these housing issues, federal, state, and local governments have all passed legislation to prevent housing instability. The following timeline displays how the Federal Government, the State of Ohio, Cuyahoga County, and the City of Cleveland responded to housing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

The NASA Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2019

The NASA Glenn Research Center creates the benefits within the regional economy by engaging contractors from Northeast Ohio and Ohio, paying high wages to their employees who spent most of their income locally, and collaborating with local higher education institutions providing them with research grants and contracts. This study uses a multi-regional input-output (I-O) model to estimate the effect of NASA Glenn Research Center’s spending on the economies of Northeast Ohio (NEO) and Ohio. This model measures economic impact in terms of growth in output (sales), value added (output less intermediary goods), number of new and supported jobs, labor income, and tax revenues. This year’s study uses an improved methodology to measure NASA Glenn’s impact on the economies of Northeast Ohio and Ohio, and to account for the inter-relationships of two connected regions. This methodology is comparable with the one used in previous studies. The Multi-Regional Input-Output analysis better accounts for the Ohio regional supply chain, calculating the impact for the larger region as the economic impact of NASA Glenn on Northeast Ohio and on the remainder of Ohio. This report accounts for diverse economic sectors and illustrates the impact they make on the regional economies of Northeast Ohio and the State of Ohio. The table below summarizes NASA Glenn’s economic impact on Northeast Ohio and the State of Ohio during FY 2019

Jobless Pandemic: Geography of Layoffs and Opportunity Zones

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a law designed to protect workers against employment losses. Employers are required to provide employees with a 60-day notice in the event of plant closings and mass layoffs. Under normal conditions, WARNs are required in the event of a) Plants closing or stopping operation either permanently or temporarily affecting 50 or more workers; b) Layoffs of 500 or more employees during a 30-day-period or when these layoffs constitute at least a third of the company’s workforce; and c) Temporary layoffs expected to exceed six months, in this case, when a temporary layoff originally not expected to exceed six months gets extended, it would trigger a WARN. This last scenario has been the case of many companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the event of “unforeseeable business circumstances,” businesses are not subject to the 60-day notice requirement, as was also the case of many COVID-19 related layoffs. When the stay-at-home orders caused a sudden loss of business outside of the employer’s control, the state of Ohio required that companies laying-off 50 or more employees due to lack of business must report the layoff within a 7-day period. Given this information, it should be noted that the nature of the WARNs does not allow a complete analysis of all the jobs lost in the region during the pandemic, as small businesses are not obligated to file a WARN and would not traditionally do so. Therefore, the following analysis does not reflect small- to medium-sized businesses. However, sizable layoffs are reflective of large regional employers whose layoffs might trigger considerable impacts in their supply chain. There were a total of 19,318 layoffs reported from companies in Northeast Ohio (NEO) between January and August of 2020, and 18,458 (96%) have occurred since March 19th, just a few days after the stay-at-home order was instated. Immediately after the stay-at-home order, companies began to state COVID-19 as one of the primary reasons behind their mass layoffs. 91% of the reported layoffs since March 19th have been attributed to the pandemic according to the companies’ own WARNs, for a total of 16,857 reported jobs lost. The months of March and April saw the most COVID-19 related layoffs with 6,190 affected, while April saw 5,129 layoffs. Following these huge losses, the numbers dropped to below 2,000, and during the month of August, only 309 lost jobs were reported, which may be a sign of a beginning stabilization in the region

Youngstown Economy: Recession and Path to Recovery

This brief seeks to identify opportunities for the Youngstown economy to recover from the COVID-induced economic recession