Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Economic Vitality Index: Mapping Ohio's 88 Counties, Matthew Ellerbrock, Courtney Whitman, Iryna V. Lendel, Merissa Piazza

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Along with the unimaginable death of hundreds of thousands, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic hardship for many more millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of businesses, large and small. After experiencing the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, we are now faced with an unprecedented contraction in modern times as workers see their hours reduced – or jobs eliminated – and businesses scale down operations or close their doors altogether. As part of its effort to aid in responding to Ohio’s economic downturn resulting from the pandemic, the Center for Economic Development (Center) is tracking the overall economic …

Pandemic Related Housing Assistance, December 2020, Iryna V. Lendel, Molly Schnoke, Erica Henrichsen

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The COVID-19 disease has resulted in a worldwide pandemic. Over 85 million worldwide confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in a single year (2020) with more than 1.8 million of those cases resulting in death. The United States reported over 20 million confirmed cases in 2020 with over 300,000 deaths. This is a public health crisis that has resulted in widespread government response including event cancellations/prohibitions, stay-at-homes orders, the closure of nonessential businesses, and more. Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio declared a state of emergency on 3/9/2020 immediately following the first case reported in the state. On 3/13/2020, President …

Can The Eitc And Unemployment Insurance Replace Lost Wages?, Megan Hatch, Chloe G. White

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on all aspects of social, economic, and political life worldwide. In the United States, millions of people have tested positive for COVID-19, and over 200,000 people have died from the virus. While Ohio’s governor and director of public health have been credited for their quick decision-making in response to the pandemic, Ohio’s communities still suffered, with well over 100,000 cases and thousands of COVID-19-related deaths statewide.

Policymakers aiming to reduce the spread of COVID-19 were forced to make difficult tradeoffs between public health and the economy. On March 23, 2020, Governor Mike …

Are There Opportunities In Opportunity Zones?, Tatyana Guzman, Rachel Lefebre

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Opportunity Zones (OZ) are an economic development tool designed to spur investment in impoverished areas (census tracts). OZs were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. They allow investors to defer (and, if investments are held for a long time, to partially exclude) capital gains received from qualified investments made in Opportunity Zones from federal tax. In this research we speculate on the potential effect of the Opportunity Zones program in the greater Cleveland area. 8,764 census tracts in the United States received Opportunity Zone designation. 320 of them were selected in Ohio. Of those, 317 are low-income …

Youngstown Economy: Recession And Path To Recovery, Iryna Demko, Iryna V. Lendel, Merissa Piazza, Georgina Figueroa, Matthew Ellerbrock

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This brief seeks to identify opportunities for the Youngstown economy to recover from the COVID-induced economic recession.

Jobless Pandemic: Geography Of Layoffs And Opportunity Zones, Georgina Figueroa, Matthew Ellerbrock, Iryna V. Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a law designed to protect workers against employment losses. Employers are required to provide employees with a 60-day notice in the event of plant closings and mass layoffs. Under normal conditions, WARNs are required in the event of a) Plants closing or stopping operation either permanently or temporarily affecting 50 or more workers; b) Layoffs of 500 or more employees during a 30-day-period or when these layoffs constitute at least a third of the company’s workforce; and c) Temporary layoffs expected to exceed six months, in this case, when a temporary …

Moving Cleveland Above The Trend: Benchmarking Regional Performance (Presentation), Iryna V. Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

About the Study

Model for understanding and predicting economic growth in U.S. mid-sized regional economies similar to Cleveland and NEO

Analyzed structural and policy-based factors and looked for outperformers - what can Cleveland learn about their public policies and programs?

Used a multi-stage process collecting 43 variables associated with regional growth, including educational attainment, business composition, regional assets, and quality of life

The mid-sized regional economies analyzed encompass 135 metro areas, and includes populations spanning from 352,823 to 3.9 million

Used factor analysis as a data-reduction technique to identify factors influencing growth in mid-sized regional economies:

*Innovation and Talent
*Entrepreneurship …

Moving Cleveland Above The Trend: Benchmarking Regional Performance (Report), Iryna V. Lendel, Merissa Piazza, Molly Schnoke, Jinhee Yun, Nora Walsh

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

When analyzing economic development, we must consider both the factors that can be changed through policy and those that cannot. This report includes our model for understanding and predicting economic growth in U.S. mid-sized regional economies to analyze structural and policy-based factors among similar regional economies. Our research used a multi-stage process that involved collecting 43 variables on a variety of topics that are associated with regional growth, such as educational attainment, business composition, regional assets, and quality of life. In total, our mid-sized regional economies encompass 135 metro areas, and includes populations spanning from 352,823 to 3.9 million. We …

Neo Grids Performance In 2020, Iryna Demko, Merissa Piazza, Iryna V. Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Center for Economic Development identified 33 driver industries in the 2019 report titled “Northeast Ohio Front Runners: Groups of Regional Industry Drivers (GRIDs).” GRIDs are wealth-creating industries that pay high wages, have a robust regional specialization, and contribute to the economy through regional supply chains. However, in this year alone, the U.S. and Ohio economies have seen a trade war with China, retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, the collapse of oil prices, and mandatory business closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These events contributed to the already ongoing cyclical repression, and impacted the wealth creation of Northeast Ohio’s (NEO)3 …

The Nasa Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2019, Iryna V. Lendel, Jinhee Yun, Courtney Whitman

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The NASA Glenn Research Center creates the benefits within the regional economy by engaging contractors from Northeast Ohio and Ohio, paying high wages to their employees who spent most of their income locally, and collaborating with local higher education institutions providing them with research grants and contracts. This study uses a multi-regional input-output (I-O) model to estimate the effect of NASA Glenn Research Center’s spending on the economies of Northeast Ohio (NEO) and Ohio. This model measures economic impact in terms of growth in output (sales), value added (output less intermediary goods), number of new and supported jobs, labor income, …

From Economic Slowdown To Recession, Iryna Demko, Iryna V. Lendel, Merissa Piazza

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The most recent recession, known as the “Great Recession,” began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. The recession affected the entire U.S., but its impacts were not uniform. Unfortunately, Ohio was a primary example of the recession’s iniquities as the recession lasted five months longer here compared to the rest of the nation. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we face further uncertainty and another recession with economic activity contracting “sharply and abruptly” across the entire U.S. This research brief examines the state of the economy in the U.S. and Northeast Ohio pre-pandemic (2019) and provides an analysis of …

The Role Of Public Transportation In Youngstown, Iryna V. Lendel, Iryna Demko, Obed Pasha, Georgina Figueroa

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Center analyzed the relationship between public transit availability and employment in the entry-level job hubs. Using a Poisson model for the Youngstown origin-destination matrix, we found that a 10-minute decrease in rush-hour travel times by public transit is expected to increase employment by almost 7%. This means that 224 more residents of each low-income census tract will have access to the entry-level job hubs in Youngstown. As transit agencies are experiencing major disruptions to normal operating procedures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our findings show that without access to public transportation many people lose prospective employment.

Good Jobs: Employment And Wages In Groups Of Regional Industrial Drivers, Iryna Lendel, Merissa Piazza, Iryna Demko, Matthew Ellerbrock, Emily Forsee

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Talent attraction and workforce development are urgent topics in Northeast Ohio, as many companies are finding it challenging to locate and attract necessary workers for open jobs. This dilemma spans across sectors: from the manufacturing industry finding appropriately skilled labor to professional services finding experienced IT staff. This research analyzes employment dynamics among Northeast Ohio (NEO) industries, so policymakers and economic development practitioners can utilize our findings and design programs to improve the economic conditions in the region. This report builds on The Center for Economic Development’s prior work, which identified NEO’s Groups of Regional Industry Drivers (GRIDs). These sectors …