Manufacturing workforce needs, jobs are evolving in the Fourth District
Cleveland Fed president and chief executive officer Beth M. Hammack toured Cleveland-headquartered MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network to learn more about the industry’s workforce needs now and in the future.
In 1969, nearly 45 percent of all the wages earned in the Cleveland metro area were associated with manufacturing. By 2023, that share had fallen to less than 14 percent. The number of people working in manufacturing jobs in our region has also declined.1
Despite these developments, manufacturing can still offer workers a promising pathway to the middle class. Moreover, many of today’s manufacturing jobs aren’t gritty or dangerous but are instead safe and high tech.2 That’s what Cleveland Fed president and chief executive officer Beth Hammack learned during a tour of MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network which is headquartered in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood.
Hammack (far right) tours MAGNET’s headquarters with Lisa Barrow, Cleveland Fed vice president of regional analysis (second from right); Jack Schron, CEO of Jergens Inc. (far left); and Leah Epstein, MAGNET (second from left) (January 8, 2025)
Joining Hammack on the tour was Jack Schron, the President & CEO of Jergens Inc., a mid-size machining manufacturer in Cleveland. Schron is a longtime member of MAGNET’s board of directors and has long had an interest in workforce development in Northeast Ohio.
Indeed, jobs in manufacturing now tend to have higher skill requirements3 given technology advancements in the sector. And that’s where organizations like MAGNET are aiming to fill a gap.
The 40-year-old nonprofit introduces school-age students to manufacturing careers, provides training and connects prospective employees with internship opportunities, and works with small and medium-sized regional manufacturers to help them adopt new technologies and stay competitive.
Hammack (far right), Barrow (second from left), and Schron (second from right) listen to Dr. Ethan Karp (far left), the CEO of MAGNET, explain how students can create, build, and race their own small electric cars to learn more about the manufacturing process (January 8, 2025)
Hammack (far right) is shown the Sherwin Williams paint room, where students can paint the shells of electric cars that they create at the MAGNET facility. Also pictured are Schron (left) and Dr. Karp (center) (January 8, 2025)
According to officials at MAGNET, unfilled positions are a major threat to the long-term vitality of the manufacturing industry in Northeast Ohio.
About President Beth M. Hammack’s Around the District tour
President Hammack is visiting communities across the Fourth District as part of her Around the District tour to meet and connect with the people who live and work in all corners of the region and to gain a better understanding of how the economy is working in different communities. The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Hammack will use this information to inform her policy views and better represent the Fourth District around the Federal Open Market Committee table.
Footnotes
- Schweitzer, Mark E. 2018. “Rust and Renewal: A Cleveland Retrospective.” Industrial Heartland Series. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. https://www.clevelandfed.org/regional-analysis/cleveland-retrospective. Return to 1
- US Department of Commerce. 2021. “Making a Place for Women in Manufacturing.” March 26, 2021. https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2021/03/making-place-women-manufacturing. Return to 2
- Charles, Kerwin Kofi, Erik Hurst, and Mariel Schwartz. 2018. “The Transformation of Manufacturing and the Decline in U.S. Employment.” Working paper 24468. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w24468. Return to 3
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Rust and Renewal: A Cleveland Retrospective
This retrospective report evaluates the Cleveland metropolitan statistical area's economic performance and the importance of manufacturing in the region from 1969 to the present.
Rust and Renewal: A Pittsburgh Retrospective
This retrospective report evaluates the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area's economic performance and the importance of manufacturing in the region from 1969 to the present.
Rust and Renewal: A Cincinnati Retrospective
This retrospective report evaluates the Cincinnati metropolitan statistical area's economic performance and the importance of manufacturing in the region from 1969 to the present.
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Beth M. Hammack
Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System.
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