Akron ranked third nationally in manufacturing job growth

AKRON, Ohio - Akron ranked third among 100 of the largest cities in the U.S. in manufacturing job growth in the past year, according to one of the nation's biggest business publishers. The city is also ranked eighth in the country with respect to private-sector job growth.

The rankings of Manufacturing Jobs by Cities were released by bizjournals.com , a publication of American City Business Journals with over 10 million readers.

"This affirms the strategy we embarked on many years ago," said Mayor Don Plusquellic in a news release. "When we work to bring employers to Akron, we look for manufacturers who will hire Akron area residents; they have chosen Akron because the best technology and the best-trained workforce are already in place here."

The report revealed few metro areas have been exempt from what the study calls a "free fall in manufacturing jobs nationally."

The nation's 100 major markets lost 1.43 million manufacturing jobs during the past five years -- an average of 783 each day. Only four of the top 100 markets have more manufacturing jobs today than in 2006: Bakersfield and Modesto, California; Charleston, S.C., and Houston, Texas.

In the past year, Akron ranked behind only Tulsa, Oklahoma and Modesto, California in manufacturing job growth.

Although Akron was one of the 96 out of 100 large U.S. cities negatively affected by the economic downturn and lost manufacturing jobs in the last five years, Akron showed 7.47% growth in the last year with 40,300 manufacturing jobs retained or attracted.

Columbus ranked 80th in one year job growth, Cleveland ranked 54th, Toledo ranked 21st in one year job growth, Youngstown ranked 14th and Cincinnati ranked 12th.

Plusquellic credited the success to the collaboration between his Economic Development Department and the Greater Akron Chamber in an award-winning Job Retention Program and to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Bowman's work at trade shows nationally and internationally, including Germany, the Netherlands, Shanghai and Israel.

"Bob Bowman and Deputy Planning Director Sam DeShazior, working with the Greater Akron Chamber, have brought home hundreds of good-paying manufacturing jobs to help make Akron a leader in the world of advanced manufacturing," said Plusquellic. "We are proud of our accomplishments, and this research points out again that our investment in travel has provided us a substantial return on investment."

Last month, the Mayor's Office of Economic Development, using data supplied by the Greater Akron Chamber, reported that Akron has attracted 758 new jobs for its residents from foreign companies alone since 1990, with $73 million of investment in buildings and machinery. The City-Chamber collaboration attracted 613 additional jobs outside of the city for area residents, with capital investment of $51 million in Fairlawn, Green, Mogadore, Stow, Wadsworth, and Copley and Bath Townships.

Akron officials said the report showed for every dollar Plusquellic spent on travel, the city received $3,979 coming back to Akron in investment; and, there is an estimated $560,000 per year of income tax generated for the City just from those foreign owned companies that are located within Akron employing the 568 Akron area residents.

"The rankings by bizjournals.com confirm that what we have been doing to attract businesses to Akron is working." said Plusquellic.