A    S I T E    S E L E C T I O N    R E G I O N A L    R E V I E W    F R O M    S E P T E M B E R    2 0 0 0

---

Ohio Moves Toward
The Front of the Pack

Ohio is ahead of some of its neighbors in attracting new industry. Earlier this year, the state launched a $20 million work-force training program, which will focus on attracting and retaining jobs in high-tech industries, manufacturing and services. That program should nicely complement the state's other recruitment efforts, which in 1999 saw 1,143 industries expand or launch new operations in the state.

"We've had a very strong cycle of growth that has matched the national economy," says Steve Kelley, senior economist with the Ohio Dept. of Development. "We have a general assistance program for existing business, and we have a broad range of industries: automotive, plastics and steel. We're strong in food processing, electronics and medical instruments. In many cases, what we're looking at is investments in state-of-the-art technology. So it's all high-tech."

One industry breeds another and, in the end, they help support each other in various ways. That has been the story of Ohio's broad-based manufacturing economy, which, as analyst Kelley points out, is increasingly high-tech in nature. The focus of the state's economy can be seen in its largest private-sector employers. Its top two employers are auto-related manufacturers: General Motors (27,700 employees) and Delphi Automotive (27,000).

Meanwhile, Ohio is working to diversify its economy and make significant efforts to attract high-tech operations. State officials talk increasingly about the "critical mass" its industrial base is helping to develop new high-tech industry.

Part of that is the state's Technology Action Fund, which helps support basic technology research at the state's universities. Link that with the state's advantageous location, and Ohio has a bright future in terms of expanding and diversifying its economy.

"The location issue is a mighty one, when you realize the Great Lakes States produce about 50 percent of the manufactured products in the U.S.," says economist Kelley. "We're part of the nation's manufacturing belt. That and proximity to markets is critical to us. Our labor force is familiar and comfortable with manufacturing. There's an historical strength in access to suppliers, as well as customers, that rivals what many regions of the country could muster in their own right. With major corporations a significant factor is being close to each other, business-to-business commerce."

Meanwhile, the new and expanded industry keeps discovering that Ohio is a good place to do business.

"We're pleased with MCI's decision to set up a call center in Youngstown," Kelley says. "And there was Proctor & Gamble's research center north of Cincinnati. Delta Airlines announced this year that it will develop a call center in downtown Cincinnati."

Ohio's recruitment and retention efforts are paying off handsomely. The state created 178,000 new jobs from April 1999 to April 2000. Many of those were service jobs, which account for 28 percent of the state's employment.