Cuyahoga Scoreboard
Government Performance & the Local Economy
Can Metro Cleveland Capitalize on Surge in Private Businesses?
Cleveland Magazine/Community Leader Feb 2025
Since 2018, there’s been a significant, but largely unnoticed, growth in the number of private business established in Metro Cleveland.
Despite the Covid pandemic, private businesses grew from 53,800 businesses to 58,900 businesses in five years, an increase of 10%. Unfortunately, employment did not grow as well.
A better understanding of these entrepreneurial dynamics could arguably lead not only to the overall growth of new businesses, but to an increase in the segment that has the potential to grow and create jobs beyond the owner/proprietor model.
For more information, read the PDF.
Metro Cleveland Employment & Labor Force (Dec 2024)
Employment Rebounded from Covid, but Still Below Pre-Pandemic Level
Metro Cleveland's employment was 1,001,000 in Dec. 2024, about 14,400 more than a year ago, but still about 29,500 below five years ago. The labor force was 1,035,900, an increase of 18,300 since last year. It remained about 34,300 below the 2019 pre-pandemic level.
Unemployment was 34,900, about 3,900 higher than a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 3.4%, a little higher than a year ago.
For more information, read the PDF.
Does Metro Cleveland Face a Rougher Time Ahead
Cleveland Magazine/Community Leader (Nov. 2024)
Economic conditions were very unsettled in early 2024 as the national election season got underway. The unreported news from Metropolitan Cleveland is that employment began to slow down in late 2023.
After three years of moderate but consistent post-Covid employment growth, the number of jobs contracted in the first half of 2024.
The contraction was the delayed result of the convergence of a number of unusual post-Covid conditions and continued inflation fears.
The unsettled employment situation, coupled with an erratic stock market raises the question of whether that Metro Cleveland is facing rough economic conditions.
Rougher Econ Future- with Charts
Rougher Econ Future- Community Leader
Finding Growth to Strengthen Metro Cleveland's Employment Future
Cleveland Magazine/Community Leader July 2024
As Metro Cleveland’s civic leadership seeks strategies to strengthen economic development, it is easy to fall over-emphasize favored industries and positive news. The most successful plans take advantage of well-documented economic strengths and existing trends that can be amplified with focused effort. ​
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes data to help identify growth industries. Metro Cleveland’s industry sectors can be divided into thirty-three industries with an average and median size of about 30,000 employees. Total employment is 1,060,000.
The industry analysis showed.
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The industries with strong, above average employment performance for the whole 2010-23 period were: Professional, Scientific and Technical Services; Hospitals; Transportation and Warehousing; Insurance; Construction; Wholesale Trade; and Other Health and Social Assistance.
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Two industries in the Leisure and Hospitality Sector (Accommodation and Food Services, and Arts, Entertainment and Recreation) also performed strongly over the period, but, not surprisingly, suffered significantly due to Covid.
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Toward the bottom were several retail industries, metal-working durable goods industries and a mix of other industries.
For more information, read the PDF with additional tables
For more information, read the article
Metro Cleveland Needs a Local Crime Monitor
Cleveland Magazine/Community Leader, Feb. 2024
Comparative crime statistics for Cleveland continually rank Cleveland among the top tier of crime cities in America. Compiling and interpreting local crime data is not easy. The FBI and the State of Ohio compile local data on violent crime (homicides, rape, robberies, and aggravated assaults) and property crime (burglaries, larceny-thefts, and motor vehicles thefts). Unfortunately, it is not mandatory for police to provide the data. The lack of data from some communities makes it difficult to see overall area crime levels or to determine trends.
Despite these limitations, it is possible to develop a picture of major crime in the area’s core county. When the FBI data is combined with police data obtained by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to local police departments, a troubling picture on crime in Cuyahoga County emerges. Over the four-year period, Cuyahoga County averaged about 33,800 total crimes, including 7,700 violent crimes and 26,100 property crimes.
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Crime is a major factor in Metro Cleveland. The lack of a research organization to collect and analyze the crime data and the lack of a mechanism to publicize their findings to community leaders contributes to poor public safety policies.
Metro Cleveland Employment & Labor Force Strengthened Slightly in 2023 But Remained 5% Below Pre-Pandemic Levels.
Metro Cleveland's employment was 984,100 in Dec 2023, about 8,400 better than a year ago, but still 46,900 below the pre-pandemic level. The labor force increased by 5,200 to 1,015,300 since Dec 2022 but it remained 55,500 below the pre-pandemic level.
Unemployment was 31,300, about 3,200 lower than Dec 2022. The preliminary unemployment rate was 3.1%, a very low rate historically. The smaller labor force was a major factor in the low unemployment rate.
Overall, Metro Cleveland's recent economic growth improved slightly in 2023 but employment was still below pre-pandemic levels. The smaller employment and labor force levels may represent a permanent contraction of the Metro Cleveland economy, although the continued recovery in 2023 was encouraging.
Metro Cleveland Had the Worst Employment Growth Rate of 12 Midwestern Metros from 2001 to 2023
Metro Cleveland employment decreased by 6.1% since 2001, compared to a gain of +4.2% for the Midwest region. Overall, Metro Cleveland dropped by 64,900 over the two-decade period. The area lost 7.9% from 2001 to 2010, gained 4.6% from from 2010 to 2019 and dropped 2.5% during the 2019-2023 Covid/recovery period. The area ranked last out of 12 comparable major Midwestern metropolitan areas in employment growth rate.
Cleveland's Public Safety Strategy to Reduce the Cost of Crime Should Start with Hiring More Police Officers
A recent Crain's op-ed on the cost of crime and public safety quantifies the cost of crime in Cleveland and assesses whether hiring more police would reduce the overall cost of crime. The question boils down to whether more police or social programs are the most cost-effective means of reducing crime.
What's new in this article? Nobody has previously tried to estimate the cost of 26,000 crimes in Cleveland. The article estimates that the cost to Cleveland residents is $1.6 billion or $4300 per capita), a huge burden on Cleveland residents,
The article quantifies whether hiring more police would reduce the overall cost of crime to Cleveland residents. The result was that adding 10% more police reduced the cost of crime by 480 incidents and $63 million including the cost of police. Going to full staffing would save even more.
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For those who are interested , a PDF with some tables that go more in depth on crime and the calculations. I included the tables to be transparent on the assumptions and to stimulate more thinking and better policies.
Economic Overview of Metropolitan Cleveland & Akron
Presented to Educational Service Center NEO Business Advisory Council (Feb 3, 2023)
The presentation is an in-depth look at the impact of Covid on the seven-county Cleveland-Akron metropolitan area provided to a group of educational administrators. It analyzes long-term economic trends & provides a post-pandemic economic outlook.
A Smaller Economy Permanently?
Metro Cleveland's Employment & Labor Force Rebound Has Stalled 30,000-40,000 Below Pre-Pandemic Levels (May 2023)
Metro Cleveland's employment was 994,700 in May 2023, about 17,200 better than a year ago, but still 31,100 worse than the pre-pandemic level. The labor force increased by 6,700 to 1,034,400 since May 2022 but it remained 48,700 below the pre-pandemic level. Unemployment was 39,700 about 10,500 better than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 3.9%, a point lower a year earlier but the favorable rate is somewhat misleading. The smaller labor force, not strong employment, was a major factor in the low unemployment rate. Overall, Metro Cleveland's economic growth remains weak and below pre-pandemic levels. The smaller employment and labor force levels may represent a permanent contraction of the Metro Cleveland economy.
2021-22 Average Proficiency Scores for Cuyahoga County Public School Districts Continue to be Discouraging
SUMMARY:The Average 3rd-Grade-High School Proficiency Score for 31 public school districts in Cuyahoga County was 61.6, slightly above Ohio's 57.7. There was significant variance between districts and several large, poor-performing dominated the overall outcome. The 13 districts with average scores below 60 totalled 73,000 students with an estimated 48,400 students below proficiency of 60.
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More information on the test results are available in a PDF on the Schools page
A Return to "Normal" Public Schools Is Not Enough
(Crain's Cleveland Business, March 7, 2022)
The 2020-21 school year was dismal for public education in Cuyahoga County as schools were buffeted by the COVID pandemic and social and political currents.
Most parents and the public hoped that schools would return to "normal" for the county's 130,000 public school students this year, but even if COVID disruptions fade in spring, the public schools' "normal" performance fails to prepare many students for the future and handicaps Cuyahoga County's economic growth.
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DOWNLOAD & READ THE PDF WITH ADDITIONAL DATA OR READ THE CRAIN'S ARTICLE
What's the Crime Rate in Cuyahoga County?
Based on data from various sources, there were about 40,000 reported crimes in Cuyahoga County in 2020. This includes the Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System (OIBRS) estimate of 35,200, plus 4,600 estimated from other sources.
The number of violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault) was about 9,100 (OIBRS-8,500 and Other sources-600) and the number of property crimes (burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft) was 30,700. Almost two-thirds of the total crime was in Cleveland, including nearly 80% of violent crimes.
