There’s a takeaway quote from The Godfather, “It’s business, not personal.” The reality is that the takeaway about how we all look at and value business is that its personal after all. One needs to see the personal side, in order to have buy in to the business side.
In Ohio, manufacturing business is personal.
The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association’s Manufacturing Counts report helps make the case. You don’t have to be a nerd on economic facts to mine the report and find the personal side of Ohio’s business economy.
First Thought: Gross Domestic Product Measures Impact.
Ohio’s Gross Domestic Product, the best measure of the economy, likely surpassed $1 trillion in the first part of this year. That’s a milestone worth celebrating.
In fact, only 21 countries exceed our state’s GDP. Ohio’s economy, as a single state, is bigger than the economy of the entire countries of Ireland, Taiwan, and Sweden.
That GDP level is owed to manufacturing more than any other sector of our economy.
Fully 15% of Ohio’s economy is from manufacturing. If you factor in related transportation, back office, real estate, and research and development (manufacturing is the biggest part of R&D), the real number could be over 30%.
The breadth of manufacturing’s impact on Ohio’s economy makes it personal.
Another Thought: Small Business is Manufacturing Too.
While the big stuff like GDP is data worth noticing, it’s also worth noticing the small stuff.
The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association reports that more than 60% of manufacturers in Ohio employ less than 20 people. There are over 780 manufacturing establishments in Franklin County alone. The average employment is under 50.
Mid-sized manufacturers employ the most. 40% of the state’s manufacturing employment was with companies in the 100-499 employee range.
It might be even more surprising to some that less than 1.5% of Ohio manufacturers have over 500 employees.
It’s hard to ignore the personal side of business when the impact of small and mid-sized businesses are taken into account.
Third Thought: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
Manufacturers in Ohio are economic engines most of all for how many they employ. They also enjoy Ohio’s biggest paychecks.
Ohio ranks third among the states for the most manufacturing jobs. Only Texas and California surpass Ohio.
One in every seven jobs in Ohio is a manufacturing job.
It varies around the state, though. In Shelby County, nearly one of every two jobs is held in manufacturing. Look to your left. Look to your right. One of the people is employed in manufacturing. That’s personal indeed.
Paychecks hit the bottom line too. Manufacturing wages were $50 billion in the last report, more than any other sector of Ohio’s economy. That’s not a new trend either.
The average annual pay in manufacturing hovers around $80,000 a year. The average paycheck for chemicals and petroleum employees exceeds $100,000 annually.
The bottom line? It’s personal. It’s our neighbors who work in manufacturing. That’s the impact that matters most of all in Ohio.
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This column is a regular column in The Columbus Dispatch.
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