Here’s a closer look at the Akron economy plus a few things on commuting and maps showing where things are locating between Akron and Cleveland (northern Summit & Portage counties).

 

Gross Metropolitan Product

 

The MSA number, showing the increase during the early part of the decade and the plateau later.  Numbers are millions.

 

 

The BEA allows one to do breakouts by economic sector, as long as the data is not suppressed.  In this case there is a fairly complete set of data, allowing the sectors to be graphed out.

 

 

There isn’t much interesting here, other than the relative sizes of the sectors.  Another way of looking at this is how much did a sector add or subtract between 2001-2008, and then arranging them for comparison

 

 

All told most sectors contributed to the growth in GMP across the decade.  Akron had a net growth.  Interestingly it retail and wholesale trade, professional and technical services, and management of companies and enterprises, followed by manufacturing, tat led the way.

 

Or, showing it another way, the percentage each sector contributed to Akron GMP growth.

 

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The performance of the sectors over the course of the 00’s expressed as a percentage.  Wholesale & Retail Trade drops off in this case, but one can see the more white collar sectors having the greatest % growth over the decade. 

 

 

And a snapshop for 2008, showing how the sectors contribute to the overall GMP.  I note the best performing sectors with a star. 

 

 

Employment

 

GMP is not employment.  In fact it might not even be that closely related after comparing the following charts with the GMP charts (where possible…they are not directly comparable)

 

The employment number mirrors the GMP number, in aggregate.  Note that employment in these charts is not how many people living in the Akron area are working, but how many positions are being generated in Summit and Portage Counties.  It is supply side. 

 

 

Employment by sector; the sectors here are not exactly the same as the GMP ones, but I think one can do direct comparisons with the Manufacturing and Trade sectors in the GMP charts. 

 

 

I guess I was surprised to see Government so high here.  This is mostly local government.  Also manufacturing didn’t do well in employment vis a vis GMP.  The Leisure and Hospitality sector looks pretty high, too, in terms of jobs (this would include bars and restaurants).

 

Though the Akron MSA did end the 2001-2008 period with a net increase of positions, most sectors lost jobs, the most by far being manufacturing.  Here are the numbers (in thousands):

 

 

By far the best performer was professional and business services, followed by the familiar health care & social services & private education

 

Wrapping up with a snapshot of the employment situation in 2008.  Growing sectors are noted with a star:

 

 

The Akron/Cleveland Connection

 

Some commuting number history (from the census) for people commuting to Cuyahoga County and Summit County showing how there is a strong exchange between the two, even as early as 1970.  I cut off the numbers at 1,000 commuters, just to show the significant commuting.  Portage County is starting to get a lot of Cleveland commuters, too.

 

 

 

 

And, since Summit County is becoming an increasingly important commuting destination, the types of sectors the commuters are in:

 

 

..not sure there is anything suprising here.  Manufacturing, though declining, still provides a lot of work for Cuyahoga County commuters.

 

 

Mapping Economic Clusters in Northern Summit

 

A transportation planning agency in Akron generated a set of maps showing clusters of manufacturing and retail trade employment, zoning, and land use.  It’s very clear from these maps that northern Summit and northwestern Portage counties are clusters of employment based on these maps, probably sharing a labor pool from Akron and Cleveland . 

 

Manufacturing:

 

 

 

Retail Trade

 

 

 

Unfortunatly no maps for professional, technical, and management concentrations, since these are becoming growing areas for employment as well as GMP.

 

Perhaps they can be inferred from the zoning map (which shows intent for growth as well as what’s there)

 

 

 

Finally, current land use for northern Summit County.  One can see industrial parks and office/retail concentrations, too, to some extent.

 

 

 

I’m not that familiar with this area…I recall driving in to Cleveland from Akron via Penninsula, Hudson, and Twinsburg back in 2004, and thinking this area was starting to get built-up…in fact I think I remember that industrial area between Hudson and Twinsburg.  I wonder if those northern tiers of townships (smaller and all perfectly square in the Western Reserve, I guess) might be the “Warren County” of Cleveland?  It’s pretty tough to get economic info like this below the county level.  It looks like the transportation planners got some employment numbers mapped hot spots, and there is “zip business patterns” from the census,

So, difficult to say how much of the Akron MSA and employment growth is coming from “Akron proper” and how much is from this northern tier.

 

The Brookings Study

 

I want to close up here by linking y’all to this neat study by Brookings on Akron:

 

A Restoring Prosperity Case Study: Akron, Ohio 

 

The link takes you to an executive summary.  At the summary there is another link to a much more in-depth .pdf that has a fascinating little economic history, and also makes some points about the rubber industry that reminds me of the Pittsburgh story, in terms of timing of industrial collapse:

 

”…it then discusses how the “bottoming out” of this dominant industry gave rise to the industrial restructuring of the area. The paper explores the nature of this restructuring, and the steps and activities the city’s business, civic, and government leaders have undertaken to help spur its recovery and redevelopment. In doing so, it provides a series of lessons to other older industrial regions working to find their own economic niche in a changing global economy.”

 

The article does make the point that Akron city is itself is doing rather well compared to, say, Cleveland, so perhaps some of this economic growth is helping the core city, too.

 

 

 

  Thanks for posting.

Wow, interesting stuff, thanks. 

Good lord that's great!

Bump, to go along w. that Akron discussion in another thread.

Great maps. First time I've seen this.

 

Although the following map is of Cleveland-Pittsburgh, the county-to-county commuting patterns shown for the Cleveland - Akron - Canton corridor are relevant to this thread.....

 

^

Hey..thanks!  That commuting pattern map is quite interesting ...seeing the flows into Summit, but also the connection of the Mahoning Valley to PBGH

When will the 2010 commuting number be released?

The OP was very detailed-- great post. It seems like Akron is a little under represented on these forums. I might have to post some pics of the city soon(in the proper subforum, of course 8-) ).

I might have to post some pics of the city soon

 

 

Yes, I'd like to see more of Akron here, too! 

 

BTW, there is a good book on the unionization drives of the 1930s in Akron, which indirectly gives a picture of the city itself, called "Industrial Valley".  It was originally pubished in the 1930s or 1940s, but was recently reprinted.

 

I guess the suprising thing about the place is that it isn't "ethnic" the way Youngstown and Cleveland are, that it has this rural appalachian ancestry thing going on, which maybe makes it more like Dayton, culturally speaking...maybe more 'southern' (if the appalachian in-migrants came from the southern Appalachians). 

Yes, I'd like to see more of Akron here, too!

 

Awesome. I've been meaning to take some time and walk around the city. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted within the next couple weeks.

 

BTW, there is a good book on the unionization drives of the 1930s in Akron, which indirectly gives a picture of the city itself, called "Industrial Valley".  It was originally pubished in the 1930s or 1940s, but was recently reprinted.

 

Do you mean this http://www.amazon.com/Early-Akrons-Industrial-Valley-History/dp/087338928X?

 

I guess the suprising thing about the place is that it isn't "ethnic" the way Youngstown and Cleveland are, that it has this rural appalachian ancestry thing going on, which maybe makes it more like Dayton, culturally speaking...maybe more 'southern' (if the appalachian in-migrants came from the southern Appalachians). 

 

Yeah, it's definitely got some southern or Appalachian influences going on. I'm not sure where exactly everyone came from. According to Wikipedia:

 

"Of the 208,000 citizens, almost one-third were immigrants and their children from places including Europe and West Virginia".

 

Granted, Akron had it's European enclaves(so did Dayton, I'm sure). The North Hill neighborhood was the old Italian 'hood back in the day.(P.S. North Hill is much bigger than Murray Hill :) )

^

Re "Industrial Valley"...no, I have that book you linked to and its a good overview of the pre-rubber canal-era industrialization, a period often overlooked, methinks, since "Akron = Rubber"

 

The book I'm thinking about is this one:

 

Industrial Valley

Just read this. Great work Jeff as always.