CLEVELAND — The landscape of Northeast Ohio’s workforce is changing. For the last 7 years, Team NEO has identified the talent gaps between workers and employers, with the goal of fixing them. This year’s report shows our region’s largest industries still need more qualified workers.
“Manufacturing, healthcare, IT and technology still have huge gaps in the potential to employ 55 or 60,000 more Northeast Ohio residents,” stated Jacob Duritsky, Team NEO’s Vice President of Strategy, Research and Talent.
What’s changed from year to year? The turnover rates. Workers are leaving to find something more.
“Today's workers are looking for flexibility because they want to be able to manage the demands of their life with their family, but they also want to make a meaningful difference,” explained the President of Cuyahoga Community College, Dr. Michael Baston.
Manufacturing’s turnover rate is 45%, with a workforce that skews older than some other industries.
“We haven't necessarily replaced those workers with young people by showing them that there are good careers, good family-sustaining wage opportunities within the production space that maybe they don't know about,” Duritsky said.
Healthcare’s turnover rate is even higher at 56%. In greatest demand, nurses. And it’s the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals along with others like Progressive, Sherman-Williams and KeyBank that driving the need for more tech workers.
“So many of the companies that we have here today are huge technology users,” said Duritsky. “So just because we're not Silicon Valley doesn't mean that technology is incredibly important to our economy.”
To fill talent gaps, look to the gig worker, according to Cuyahoga Community College. If you think these workers are just providing rides or delivering meals, a new report busts that myth.
“Many of our freelancers are very highly skilled in technical fields, from graphic design to the work that actually happens in every facet of life,” said Baston.
The rise of freelancers is sending a message to employers they can’t ignore.
“Employers can't overlook this meaningful opportunity to get access to quality people who could actually build the capacity to do the work that needs to be done,” said Baston.
Despite opportunities in a gig economy, it doesn’t solve problems that have existed for years.
“Minorities and women are still underrepresented even in the gig community,” Baston stated. “So, we want to make sure that everyone recognizes that their talents and skills can be monetized so that they can actually move forward and ultimately help our region.”
Currently, workers with entrepreneurial spirit are the ones moving the regional economy. Whether working for themselves or someone else.
“The gig workers actually have the opportunity to build the businesses that we need in America, and small businesses become big businesses over time,” Baston said.
These trends of job turnover and gig work resulted from the pandemic, as work continues to be redefined in a post-pandemic world.
