ECONOMIC CONTEXT; OHIO’S RUSTBELT TIGHTENS
Ohio Civic Health Index Report 2009November 10, 2009
Downloads As the seventh most populous state in the US, with a population of over 11 million, Ohio is located on the eastern edge of the mid-western US, at the apex of one of the most vibrant industrial regions of North America. Abundant natural resources, great inland waterways, and a central location made Ohio a focal point of trade, manufacturing, and industry beginning in the early 20th century. Ohio transformed from an agrarian state dominated by small towns and farms to a thriving industrial center in the early 1900s.4 This expansion of industry drew immigrants from all over the globe and created powerful cities. Today, four out of five Ohioans live in a metropolitan area.5 While farming remains a way of life in parts of Ohio, the state ranks third among the fifty states in manufacturing gross domestic product.6 In the late 1990s, when Ohio’s unemployment rate averaged 4.3 percent in 1999, Ohio seemed to still retain its industrial and economic power. But even by 1999, Ohio’s economic decline had begun; the state’s large metropolitan areas had started to lose population as the nation’s share of U.S. manufacturing jobs fell from 31 to 10 percent over the last half century.7 Ohio would lose over 200,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2007, serving as a symbol of the changes that were shaping the U.S. economy.8 “Large forces like globalization, economic restructuring, and demographic and environmental change point to a period of profound transformation within the United States that is equal in scale and complexity to that of the early part of the 20th century.”9 That transformation included the loss of many manufacturing jobs to other regions of America and countries with lower labor costs. Ohio began to feel that transformation earlier and more painfully than most states because of its heavy reliance on manufacturing. Yet even at the height of Ohio’s manufacturing strength, the state’s regionalism shaped its relative prosperity. Sometimes called “the Five Ohios,” the state is characterized by regional diversity that has cultural, political, and economic implications.10 In 1999, when the state’s average unemployment was at 4.3%, Delaware County, just north of Columbus, had an annual unemployment rate of 1.8%.11 Delaware County is in the exurbia of the state’s capitol, Columbus, located in the center of the state, and arguably its most politically progressive city. An hour’s drive south from Columbus to Vinton County, in rural southeastern Ohio, reveals a different Ohio: Vinton’s unemployment rate for 1999 was 11.8%, in the more socially and politically conservative Appalachian region of the state. Two hours west of Columbus is Auglaize County, an area once dominated by small family farms but increasingly home to large and commercial agricultural interests. Auglaize’s unemployment rate in 1999 was 4.4%, close to the state’s average. Three hours northeast of Columbus is the Cleveland metropolitan region, where 100 years ago manufacturing innovation brought industry and new immigrants to the state in record numbers. In 1999, the Cleveland region was experiencing a thirty-year downturn in employment, population, and personal income.12 While Cuyahoga County averaged an unemployment rate of 4.4% in 1999, the Cleveland metropolitan region inclusive of Cuyahoga was a study in contrasts: for example, lower income African-American neighborhoods within Cuyahoga County saw substantially fewer job opportunities compared with other neighborhoods in the Cleveland area.13 Segregation by race and social class across this region and others in the state show how prosperity, where it does occur, is not spread evenly across and within regions. In sum, the economic picture of Ohio in 1999 shows a more regionally diverse and complex snapshot of a state still enjoying a moderately strong economy whose historical manufacturing strength was, like the nation’s, already in decline. Ten years later, when the data for Ohio’s 2009 Civic Health Report was collected, the state’s unemployment rate had taken a disastrous jump. The unemployment figure for May 2009 in Ohio was 10.8%, ahead of the US unemployment rate of 9.4% for the same month. From May 2008 to May 2009 alone, the unemployment rate in Ohio jumped 4.5%.14 Again, some areas were affected more substantially than others; in Vinton County in the south, the unemployment figure for May 2009 was 13%., whereas Delaware County stood at 6.7% and Auglaize County at 11.2%. Cuyahoga Country’s figure stood at 10.1%. The economic downturn of 2008-2009, combined with increasing stagnation of the country’s manufacturing base in recent decades, has dealt a heavy blow to Ohio. General Motors plants in Moraine, Batavia and Lordstown, ABX Air in Wilmington, and American Airlines in Cincinnati were several of the largest companies that shed thousands of jobs since January 2008.15 Wilmington, Ohio suffering the loss of approximately 7,500 jobs in a town of 13,000, was hit particularly hard. As one resident explained, these job losses jeopardize both economic livelihoods as well as civic ties to the community: “I really don’t want to (leave) unless I have to. I was born and raised here. I like the town. I like the school my daughter’s in. I like the church we go to.”16 In May of 2009, when data for this report was collected, an Ohio Poll found that “30 percent of Ohioans say their household has experienced a layoff or job loss during the past 12 months.” A full 46% of Ohioans in that poll responded affirmatively to the statement that “the next generations of adults in their state would be worse off economically than the current generation of workers.” 17 In addition, the poll found that “16 percent of college graduates report living in a household where job loss has occurred during the last year,”which given record unemployment levels in Ohio undoubtedly contributes to the rise of out- migration of Ohio college graduates today.18 Experts predict that the Midwest region of the country, with its heavy reliance on manufacturing jobs, will be the slowest to pull out of the current recession. Ohio business and political leaders are searching for ways to re-invent the state’s economy in light of “a more integrated, technology-driven, globalized economy.”19 What do these economic conditions mean for the civic health of Ohio’s communities, towns and cities? Historically, there has been a steady relationship between economic hard times and civic involvement in the US: between 1975 and 2005, when unemployment rose, so did the Civic Health Index for the nation.20 This year’s data represents a deviation from that pattern. Continue Reading If you like this kind of content, sign up for an NCoC.net account and we'll customize your homepage recommendations based on your interests..
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