A study from the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University finds that a dramatic economic restructuring is under way in Cleveland.
Advanced manufacturers like Swagelok have helped expand the pool of highly skilled workers in Greater Cleveland. Last month, workers assemble products in the "clean room" of Swagelok's Solon facility. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Despite the region's historic ties to manufacturing, Greater Cleveland is advancing into the knowledge economy with surprising speed, new research indicates.
In recent years, the region's high-skill workforce has grown at a rate that ranks fifth in the nation, in a league with San Francisco, according to a study being released Monday by the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University.
The data point to a dramatic economic restructuring that's under way, one that inflicts plenty of pain as it points to the promise of a new economy.
Lower-skilled workers have born the brunt of the economic transition.
In the last eight years, metro Cleveland hemorrhaged about 83,000 jobs that require less than a college education, according to the study. Meanwhile, the five-county region added nearly 55,000 jobs that require a college education, and not just any degree. Nearly 80 percent of the smart jobs demand a master's or a doctorate degree.
In other words, a new, highly skilled pool of workers has emerged, but it has not yet created jobs for average Clevelanders.
Piiparinen Richey Piiparinen, the director of the population center, preaches patience.
"It's Economic Restructuring 101 and we have a long way to go," he said.
Piiparinen sees Pittsburgh as a likely model for Cleveland. The Steel City's manufacturing economy faded sooner and its new economy emerged earlier than Cleveland's, economic development experts agree.
In recent years, Piiparinen said, Pittsburgh has begun enjoying the expected "multiplier effects" of high skill jobs, adding jobs for workers with only a high school education.
"Pittsburgh's advanced degrees popped first, then came the jobs," he said.
Piiparinen and fellow researchers James Russell and Charlie Post have teamed up on a series of reports mapping Cleveland's changing demographics and the city's potential to compete in the global economy.
Previously, the trio revealed that the region's young adult workforce had mushroomed in to one of the brightest in the land. They credited the allure of the region's life sciences industry, the competitiveness of advanced manufacturers, and immigration.
Greater Cleveland's immigrants are far more likely than members of the native-born population to hold an advanced degree.
In the latest study, the trio examines "A Newer Geography of Jobs: Where Workers with Advanced Degrees are Concentrating Fastest."
They found that 17 percent of the entire adult labor force of Greater Cleveland holds an advanced degree, which ranks Cleveland tops in Ohio and 10th nationally, ahead of Pittsburgh, Denver and Austin, Texas.
To reach the Top 10, Cleveland added skilled workers at a pace matched by only four other cities: Washington, D.C., Providence, Rhode Island, Indianapolis and San Francisco.
Cleveland's actual numbers are modest compared to the rate of growth in new economy superstars. For example, while Cleveland added 44,000 highly skilled jobs from 2005 to 2013, San Francisco added 157,000, the study reports.
Still, Cleveland and a few other smaller metros are clearly "moving up," the authors argue.
They envision a second tier of affordable, high-skill cities wielding an impact in the smart economy. And they think Cleveland is on its way to being one of them.
Find the report at http://tinyurl.com/smartcle.