1. Greater Akron Job Hubs
September 2017

2. Introduction and Context
Transportation influences and is influenced by economic development decisions
The pattern of our region’s historical development has created efficiency challenges both for businesses and employees (job access)
A better understanding of where jobs and infrastructure exist can influence AMATS policy decisions
Job hubs research conducted in partnership with the Fund For Our Economic Future provides new information to help us think about these questions

3. What is The Fund for Our Economic Future?
Growth & Opportunity

4. High Poverty Neighborhoods
The challenge of job access
Jobs are moving farther from people
Akron MSA ranked 84th out of the 96 MSAs studied in terms of the change in the number of nearby jobs for MSA residents
Decline in number of nearby jobs particularly extreme for residents of high-poverty neighborhoods
Number of jobs near average resident
Akron MSA; ; thousands of jobs
2000
2012
-22%
120
112
100
-14% 87 80 80 69 60 40 20
All Neighborhoods
High Poverty Neighborhoods
Source: “The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America”; The Brookings Institute May 2015 ; measured by number of jobs within the median commute distance of the center point of each census tract. Median commute based on Cleveland MSA commuting patterns.

5. Our development patterns impact our region’s residents
Housing and transportation share of income
NEO cities
% Income Spent on Housing Costs
% Income Spent on Transportation Costs
Akron
Elyria
Lorain
Cleveland
Canton
Youngstown
In all above cities, transportation costs a higher share of income than housing
Source: Center for Neighborhood Technology’s H+T Affordability Index tool

6. They hamper our business competitiveness
Ranking of challenges to making new employees successful
1 = Most challenging
Challenge
Mean
Attendance/Showing Up Ready to Work on Time
2.39
Ability to learn (e.g., acquiring the right skills and experience for the job)
2.92
Willingness to Learn New Skills
3.21
Behavioral Issues (e.g., attitude, substance abuse, employee conflicts)
3.23
Attrition due to workers moving on to another employer
3.79
Organized Labor Requirements
5.47
Source: Team NEO starting wage and benefit survey

7. Growing in dense job hubs can help mitigate these trends
Job Hubs are...
Contiguous places...
...with highly concentrated employment...
...and multiple different employers...
...participating in the ‘traded sector’ of our economy

8. Why focus on the traded sector?
Companies that trade with people and businesses outside local economy (e.g. manufacturing, professional services, etc.); distinct from ‘population serving’ businesses
Wages1
Spill-over2
Accessible
$69k: traded sector
2.4 jobs added for every 1 new traded job
Opportunities exist for college-educated as well as high-school educated workers
$32k: local serving
0.5 jobs added for every 1 new local-serving job
1: Based on EMSI average annual wages in 18 county NEO; 2: Based on EMSI calculations for direct jobs added in 18-county NEO; 3: Based on top 40 traded sector and non-traded sector occupations across 18 county NEO, representing 48% and 72% of all traded and non-traded sector employment, respectively; based on EMSI job postings data from January 2016 – March 2017

9. Job hubs contain over 50% of the MSA’s traded sector jobs
Akron MSA: Job Hubs
There is a strong relationship between transportation assets and the region’s job hub locations
Akron MSA job hubs, major roads and highways
Job hubs contain over 50% of the MSA’s traded sector jobs
Source: LODES LEHD 2014 Data

10. Profile: Twinsburg Job Hub

11. Profile: Twinsburg Job Hub (1970)

12. Akron MSA: Job Hubs by Industry and Size
Downtown Akron is the largest healthcare job hub and also contains the most office and professional jobs
Traded sector and healthcare jobs by job hub
2014, thousands of jobs
Downtown Akron
Twinsburg
East Akron / Airport
Hudson / Stow
Aurora / Streetsboro
Chapel Hill
Cuyahoga Falls
Akron-Canton Airport
Richfield
Green
Gilchrist Road
Manufacturing
Firestone Park
Other Industrial
Barberton
Office & Professional
Brimfield
Healthcare 5 10 15 20 25
Source: LODES LEHD 2014 Data

13. Location of growing and shrinking hubs illustrates job access challenge
Shrinking core city hub

14. Fastest growing hubs often far from core city

15. For consideration:
Our area has well established job hubs – future job hubs stretch resources as new infrastructure is demanded
Transit traditionally has trouble serving job hubs outside central cities– how can transit better serve existing job hubs? What can be expected from transit when new hubs develop?
Businesses need to understand where it’s workforce comes from and challenges associated with access

16. For consideration:
AMATS has a role to play – transportation and economic development investments are related
This research raises interesting questions:
Where are traded sector economic assets located, and where are AMATS’ past (and future) investments located? How do they overlap?
What are the trade-offs between investments that may lead to ‘new’ hubs vs. investments in existing hubs?
Do opportunities exist for closer collaboration with local, county and regional economic development organizations?