5 Takeaways regarding Cuyahoga County’s 2024 Labor Market

The Deaconess Foundation purchases a Cuyahoga County-focused labor market dashboard from TeamNEO twice a year, which is updated as public data (from Bureau of Labor Statistics or similar) is available. The Foundation uses it as one source (of many) to inform our understanding of both the demand and the supply factors impacting the experiences of the people we and our partners serve.

The 2024 data was updated in our dashboard this week and here are 5 major takeaways:

1) Inflation is rising faster than wages, meaning that fewer people are making a family sustaining wage in Cuyahoga County than in 2023. The family sustaining wage depends on each person’s expenses; for one person with no other dependents, the wage is now $19.26 (up from $15.50 in 2023) whereas a family with two working adults and two children requires each adult to make at least $25.94.

Here’s a chilling fact:  52% of working people in Cuyahoga County earn less than $25.94 per hour.  That’s working people.

2) Job retention is increasing. We are no longer in the “great resignation”, and turnover rates by industry have all reduced. They are still high, with 50% or more of the workforce turning over during the year in retail, hotels and restaurants, and transportation – but rates in these industries (and all industries, other than mining and agriculture) have fallen.   I hope some of this retention is because employers are making their workplaces better for employees.

3) We still have fewer people working than pre-pandemic. Currently, ~607,000 people are working in Cuyahoga County, compared to 626,000 in 2019. 607,000 is the highest number since the pandemic, and is well over 2010 and 2015 numbers, but getting back to at least 626,000 is needed for economic growth. It’s probably why we still continue to hear employers say “I can’t find the workers I need.”

4) It’s all there in healthcare. Healthcare continues to grow as a sector in Cuyahoga County, and to increase job demand. It’s almost 20% of our total jobs and the sector’s employers added over 16,000 jobs since 2010, the most of any sector.  With career ladders, opportunities for family-sustaining wages, and the wide diversity of jobs available in healthcare, there’s literally something for everyone.

5) The population of the County continues to fall; it fell by almost 10,000 people from 2023 to 2024. This is happening across almost all age groups (except 35 – 49, and 65 to 79). Never has there been a more compelling reason for us to continue to get those who want to work in our County, into good jobs which pay good wages and enable our employers to grow.