Cincinnati-Middletown region’s fastest, best-paying jobs
*Projections for 2010-2020
Health care practitioners & technical
29.5% 10-year growth rate
76,646 total jobs 2020
$57,130 annual median wage 2010
Education, training & library
13.1% 10-year growth rate
62,947 total jobs 2020
$42,780 annual median wage 2010
Business & financial
5% 10-year growth rate
50,672 total jobs 2020
$56,710 annual median wage 2010
Computer & mathematical science
26.5% 10-year growth rate
33,378 total jobs 2020
$68,010 annual median wage 2010
All occupations
11% 10-year growth rate
1,069,405 total jobs 2020
$33,130 annual median wage 2010
SOURCE: “2020 Jobs Outlook” sponsored by Strive Partnership, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, Vision 2015, Agenda 360
Cincinnati-Middletown region’s largest occupation types by jobs
*Projections for 2010-2020
Office & administrative
195,906 total jobs 2020
$30,820 annual median wage 2010
Sales & related
120,725 total jobs 2020
$25,710 annual median wage 2010
Food preparation & serving
94,163 total jobs 2020
$18,290 annual median wage 2010
Health care practitioners & technical
76,646 total jobs 2020
$57,130 annual median wage 2010
SOURCE: “2020 Jobs Outlook” sponsored by Strive Partnership, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, Vision 2015, Agenda 360
Cincinnati-Middletown’s top occupations with annual median wages of more than $35,000
*Based on 2010-2020 job projections
Registered nurses
33,960 total jobs 2020
$61,170 annual median wage 2010
Associate’s degree needed
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, not technical and scientific
11,929 total jobs 2020
$54,590 annual median wage 2010
High school and on-the-job training needed
Managers of office/administrative support workers
11,926 total jobs 2020
$46,080 annual median wage 2010
High school and one to five years work experience needed
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer
10,797 total jobs 2020
$37,210 annual median wage 2010
High school, one to five years work experience and on-the-job training needed
SOURCE: “2020 Jobs Outlook” sponsored by Strive Partnership, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, Vision 2015, Agenda 360
The region’s fastest-growing and best-paying jobs are in health care, education, business and finance, and technology, according to a new report released Friday on the region’s future work force needs.
Those four occupations represent one out of every five jobs in the local economy and among jobs paying more than $33,000 a year, 95 percent require post-secondary education, on-the-job training and/or more than one year’s work experience, the report says.
“You’ve got to have something beyond high school in the way of education and training if you want to have a good paying job,” said Ross Meyer, executive director of Partners for a Competitive Workforce, an area nonprofit group and one of the report’s sponsors.
The report “2020 Jobs Outlook” analyzes U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the Cincinnati metropolitan’s future most in-demand jobs. Butler County is the region’s second most populous county. The Strive Partnership, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, Vision 2015 and Agenda 360 commissioned the report.
The single most important factor for companies looking to expand or relocate is finding qualified workers, over tax incentives, Meyer said.
“We wanted to get a sense of what jobs are growing the fastest to prepare folks,” he said. “If we can’t supply people based on what employers need, they’re not only going to not come here, they’re going to leave.”
Butler County’s biggest industries by jobs are government, health care and manufacturing. Many workers are like Ron Powell of Hamilton, who worked at manufacturing plants since graduating high school. He was laid off in May and has more than 20 years of industry experience.
The market is employer-driven, and businesses can be picky about who they hire, said Adam Jones, division director of Butler County Workforce One, the county’s job center.
“If they’re dislocated workers and they have some sort of a background, if they want to continue in that career path, then they need to evaluate what their skills are,” Jones said. “We’ll identify that and we’ll help them overcome that gap.”
JOB PROJECTIONS
The Cincinnati-Middletown region is projected to add at least 106,115 net new jobs by 2020 and 232,517 replacement jobs for retirements, advancement and attrition. Total employment is expected to exceed 1,069,000, making Cincinnati’s economy larger than Columbus, Cleveland and Dayton.
Greater Cincinnati’s employment was 1,035,800 in June, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ latest information.
“We’re expecting the Cincinnati market to continue to grow, partly just in response to population growth. But we’re also attracting and retaining jobs,” said Janet Harrah, senior director of Northern Kentucky University’s Center for Economic Analysis and Development, which helped do the analysis for the report.
While health care and the other job sectors mentioned before are the region’s fastest-growing, the most total jobs will be in these occupations: Office and administrative, 195,906; sales and related, 120,725; and food preparation and serving, 94,163, according to estimates.
Jobs for health practitioners and technical services are expected to grow 29.5 percent from 2010 to 2020 to 76,646 jobs. The median annual wage in 2010 was $57,130.
Nationally, growth in health care is fueled by an aging population, Harrah said. Locally, health care is a particularly strong industry.
“We have a really robust health care system here” of academic institutions, community hospitals and children’s hospitals, she said. “We have a lot of people who come to the Cincinnati area for health care.”
Atrium Medical Center, part of Premier Health Partners, is Middletown’s second largest employer.
“While we are not completely certain about what the future will bring for health care hiring and employment, we are always looking for experienced nurses for our care teams — specifically in our specialty areas. We are providing opportunities to new graduate nurses who are interested in specific career paths through our RN (Registered Nurse) Internship program,” said Julie Smith, senior recruiter for Premier Health. “Additionally, our affiliation with Greentree Health Science Academy; a unique public/private/hospital partnership; is building a pipeline of local health care talent.”
Education, training and library jobs will grow at an estimated 13.1 percent to 62,947 jobs in 2020. These jobs in 2010 paid a median $42,780.
Education has a lot of need for new teachers to replace retiring teachers, Harrah said. That and “as employers demand higher educational attainment, obviously that increases the demand across the spectrum,” she said.
Business and financial jobs will grow at a five percent rate to employment of 50,672, an industry that paid in 2010 a median $56,710. And computer and mathematical science jobs are forecast to grow at a 26.5 percent clip to 33,378 jobs that pay in the range of $68,000 a year.
Butler County’s second largest employer, Fairfield’s Cincinnati Financial Corp., a property casualty insurer, said finding qualified workers is a problem, especially tough for technology jobs.
“The current labor pool is not that great,” said Brian Wood, director of human resources and community relations of Cincinnati Financial. “It’s creating a lot more work for organizations that are in a hiring mode to make sure they’re finding the right fit.”
Cincinnati Financial will continue to need underwriters who can build relationships, have difficult conversations and who have analytical skills, Wood said.
“Communication skills are one of the core skills that we look at,” he said. “We’re generally looking for college graduates who are open to starting the training at the entry level.”
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