The Cleveland Job Fair

Cleveland’s successes, and the hardship the city has faced to implement them, have earned the city its title as the “comeback city.” However, as the city heads into the post-recession economy much still needs to be done. Education, despite the success of the voucher program, still requires major changes at all levels. The dropout rate remains abysmally high in some areas, and among specific demographics. Choice is limited, and competition for the vouchers won’t entice private companies to set up schools until the amount of the vouchers is raised from $2,250 per student to something close to the almost $4,000 per student currently allocated to the charter schools. Human Resources experts predict that in the new knowledge economy currently taking hold in Cleveland over 64% of jobs will require post-secondary training. Today, only 43% of the city’s residents have completed any form of further education. Those that are getting an advanced degree also face challenges as the city is graduating large numbers of students into programs with limited demand for their services. Fields like IT, high tech manufacturing, accounting, and bio-tech are all struggling to find qualified workers while the city’s excellent universities produce students trained in general studies, health programs and business management. The scale of the problems is large. For example, in the IT field, researchers estimate that 11,204 jobs were available in 2013, but only 1,301 student earned the required credentials. The field of management had the opposite problem. Only 5,412 positions were available, and over 15,000 credentials were awarded. This skills mismatch contributes to the fact that only 24% of jobs in Cleveland are filled by city natives. Worryingly, when a company in Cleveland recently attempted to hire for a small number of jobs that required a ninth grade understanding of reading and math, most of the 3,100 applicants failed. Youth unemployment is also alarmingly high for similar reasons. Education is not the only hurdle facing the market. Tax laws and barriers to entry are still complicated enough to deter new businesses, and the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act is also delaying investment. Demographics also causes worries, as Cleveland still suffers from remnants of desegregation. Those unable or unwilling to leave the disadvantaged parts of the city suffer from high crime rates, resulting in slowing investment.

Fortunately, Cleveland’s challenges can be addressed, and the city has some powerful assets to leverage. With a few more changes and some time, it is not hard to see the city returning to its status as the number one city for business in the US. Small business initiatives are already underway to expand the fortunes of those in disadvantaged areas of the city using abandoned or foreclosed land, bringing the property values up, and giving good wages to workers who have never made anything more than minimum wage. Even during the slow recession recovery, Cleveland boasted the 7th best job market in the country, and that resilience is evident in the current labor market outlook for the city. Rapid job growth for entrepreneurs, engineers, technology workers, and workers in healthcare or researcher services is expected. Workers in sales, marketing, and financial services will also do well. Overall, the “creative class” in Cleveland (those with skills in finance, law, technology, science, etc) is growing faster than almost anywhere else in the United States. (The city is tied with Tampa and Jacksonville Florida.) Cleveland is also surrounded by enormous suburbs, one of which is the richest in the entire state. The demographic and educational makeup of the residents that commute in from these neighborhoods is very different than those who live inside the city proper. If gas prices stay low and infrastructure can sustain the ever higher number of drivers who commute into the city core, Cleveland can continue to expect many of its citizens to choose to live beyond the city limits. Counting the entire Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area there are over 2 million people who live in work in close proximity to the city. Cleveland city proper has already begun to use these surrounding regions to support its revitalization by splitting tax revenues. Strong sports, cultural, and administrative centers draw over 45,000 people into central university circle alone every day.

Experts who study cites and urbanization say cites historically outlast the countries or republics that found them. Rome, London, and Paris are famous example but the historical small towns that dot Europe and Asia speak to the lasting power of a city despite economic and cultural upheaval. Cleveland, founded for its favorable trade location in 1796, it has already survived over 200 years of economic and social change. It enters the next 200 years as a city full of passionate people, complete with well developed infrastructure, and growing industries. For business, or people, thinking of taking a chance on this magnificent city, this is no better time to invest.