This story is part of an ongoing series exploring north central Ohio's workforce trends and how different organizations, including businesses and schools, are adapting to current challenges. Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gorman-Rupp Company for its ongoing support of trusted independent local journalism.
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ASHLAND — Ashland’s economic development office is small — one person handles the entire office.
Cameo Carey runs that office. She spends much of her time focused on chasing grants and tax incentives for the city and Ashland County. She’s also working on branching out and helping with other projects.
But, Carey and Ashland mayor Matt Miller said it’s a challenge to have limited personnel devoted to economic development — particularly as they’re trying to present Ashland as an “affordable, safe and fun” place for people to build their families.
Forming the North Central Workforce Alliance
The city’s limits on handling such a weighty subject was where the idea for the North Central Workforce Alliance began 10 years ago.
“That was our response to helping formulate a plan to develop a local workforce for our area’s companies,” Miller said.
The NCWA began with three goals:
- To reach young people before they made a career decision.
- To reach teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators to inform them of the jobs open in the community.
- To reach parents, so they could understand what opportunities were available to their children, whether college or entering the workforce.
“We’re trying to instill in our local young people that there are opportunities available here in our community,” Miller said.
The North Central Workforce Alliance, headed by Erv Howard, is a regional organization consisting of business owners across sectors. It conducts most of its activity from Ashland.
It has:
- Hosted economic lunches.
- Put on career fairs.
- Hosted teacher boot camps to expose teachers to industries.
- Developed programs to introduce students to careers available at younger ages.
It’s currently in the throes of bringing Junior Achievement to Ashland in May, too.
Carey has worked on those efforts since returning to the economic development office late last year.
In Miller’s estimation, the NCWA’s success is measured by record enrollment at the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center.
The ACWHCC enrollment topped 500 students this year. That’s up by more than 48% from just five years ago, according to previous Ashland Source reporting.
Even as the organization has improved in helping students understand their options in the area, filling jobs and developing a strong, high-quality workforce remains a top issue.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted named workforce as one of the state’s top challenges as it moves into the future.
“We have a lot of jobs out there and we need people to take them, which means we need every able-bodied person off the bench and into the game,” Husted said.
Local economic leaders in Ashland, like Miller, Carey and Howard, agree.
Several recent economic events hosted in the area have focused on workforce. Namely, they’ve asked questions about how to address the challenges looming in North Central Ohio’s future.
There are a myriad of factors contributing to the struggle to field a full workforce.
They include an aging population that lacks young people to fill in the employee gaps; a lack of housing options; and manufacturing jobs changing or evaporating.
We have a lot of jobs out there and we need people to take them, which means we need every able-bodied person off the bench and into the game.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted
Moves in manufacturing
Manufacturing has long dominated the job market in north central Ohio.
A November 2022 report from the Greater Ohio Policy Center defines Ohio as a “legacy state.”
In the report, the policy center explained that, similarly to legacy cities, Ohio “came to prominence in the early-to-mid 1900s around a manufacturing economy, but experienced significant population and manufacturing industry losses in the mid-to-late 20th century.”
Despite those losses statewide, manufacturing is still the top industry in Ashland, Knox and Richland counties. The industry makes up 21.6%, 21% and 18.6% of jobs countywide, respectively, according to 2021 measurements from Ohio Labor Market Information data.
Ashland and Richland counties are also part of smart manufacturing and additive manufacturing innovation clusters.
The U.S. Small Business Administration defines an innovation cluster as “a network of businesses and other organizations that work together to maximize their strengths and resources, allowing them to compete on a larger scale.”
Richland County is the worldwide leader in pump manufacturing. It also acts as a top producer of metal fabrication and plastic components.
Ashland remains home to Pentair, and is the U.S. home base for Novatex — a leading manufacturer of children’s silicone products.
The manufacturing industry has also adapted to 21st century technological advances.
Employees at manufacturers like Lloyd Rebar and Hess Industries work with and program robots that help advance the companies’ productivity.
Still, the area has also experienced manufacturing industry losses.
Some companies that previously served as large employers in Richland and Ashland counties have closed in the last two decades, including a General Motors stamping facility in Ontario, and Mansfield Plumbing Products in Perrysville.
Historical context
When General Motors announced in June 2009 that it would close its Ontario plant within the next year, 3,000 people were left without jobs. Some moved across the country to other plants while other workers found new industries to work in locally.
The Richland County unemployment rate peaked at 14.5% in January 2010 during the Great Recession.
It wasn’t until November 2013 that the countywide rate decreased to pre-GM closure levels. It took an additional six months to recover to pre-recession levels at 6.5% in spring 2015.
Ashland County’s unemployment rate saw similar trends to Richland County between 2010 and 2015, during the recession.
In 2023, Ashland County saw two large manufacturing businesses close.
At the beginning of 2023, Pioneer National Latex announced it would close its Ashland plant by the end of the year. As of February 2023, the company had already begun shutting down production lines, and shed 80 jobs.
Mansfield Plumbing Products closed its plant in Perrysville at the end of 2023, affecting hundreds of workers. The Ashland Area Economic Development team told Ashland Source the employees who lost jobs in the Pioneer National Latex and Mansfield Plumbing closures largely found new positions.
However, the job market is changing.
For example, healthcare is the second largest industry in Richland, Ashland and Knox counties. It has surpassed manufacturing as the largest employer statewide.
As of 2021, the state of Ohio measured 16.5% of its jobs in healthcare and 13% in manufacturing.
Changes have reflected locally, too.
In Ashland County, for instance, the annual economic development breakfast highlighted that Charles River Labs has taken over as the area’s largest employer. That company is in the biomedical research industry.
Miller, Ashland’s mayor, said the area still boasts several manufacturers. They just tend to employ fewer than 100 workers. Meanwhile, Charles River boasts hundreds of employees.
Miller notes that new manufacturing companies have taken over for ones that may have closed, and their products have changed.
“We haven’t really lost any major employer or industry,” Miller said. “It’s just evolved into something else.”
Miller said he’s grateful for Charles River’s presence in Ashland. The company offers jobs for people at many different skill levels.
Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO), an economic development agency representing 18 counties including Richland and Ashland, suggests Ashland County could become a medical and additive manufacturing 3D printing corridor.
Workforce woes
As the job market shifts, and some manufacturers experience losses, many companies also struggle to fill job openings.
Clint Knight, director of workforce development at the Richland Area Chamber, said some potential employers worry about the county’s labor force participation rate.
The participation rate is measured as the total number of people 16 and older who are employed or looking for work.
These measurements do not include military personnel, people who are in prison or institutionalized, college students, stay-at-home parents and full-time homekeepers. The rate also excludes retirees and volunteer workers from labor force participation measurements.
Anyone in an unpaid training program that isn’t sponsored by their employer is also excluded from the participation rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“If you’re a company that wants to open a business, workforce participation rates could impact whether you want to come here,” Knight said.
“We’ve had companies come to town, look at buildings and our infrastructure but ultimately say we don’t want to be here if only 56% of people eligible to work are actually working.”
Still, the workforce participation rate does have limitations. Sondra Palivoda, research director for Team NEO, said the rate doesn’t include active military, college students and retirees.
“Since our region has some older populations, that can affect us,” she said.
“Unemployed people are included in the participation rate, but to be categorized as unemployed, you need to still be looking for work or take some type of action within the past four weeks.
“Otherwise, you’re classified as not in the labor force. If you do seasonal work or gig work, you’re typically looking for work or clients, but that can impact the rate as well.”
Palivoda said most data sources, such as the BLS, focus on data for workers ages 16 to 65. Older people who continue to work are also included in the participation rate.
| County name | Workforce Participation Rate |
| Huron County | 61.9% |
| Wayne County | 62.2% |
| Crawford County | 60.2% |
| Knox County | 59.9% |
| Richland County | 56.7% |
| Ashland County | 60.7% |
| Marion County | 54.2% |
| Morrow County | 62.7% |
Future factors
Palivoda said it’s important to ensure high school graduates have the skills they need to enter the workforce. Their preparedness for the future acts as a precursor to the workforce participation rate.
I think the reality we’ll see in the coming years is workers in older age groups will likely stay in the labor force longer than in the past.
Sondra Palivoda, team Neo Research director
“Making sure a young person’s skills are represented in the local economy is really important,” she said. “They go to school and they might get a job, but if it doesn’t match with what they want to do, they might look elsewhere for job opportunities.”
The State of Ohio as a whole saw population gains according to the 2020 census. But, the Greater Ohio Policy Center highlighted that those gains mainly took place in the state’s urban areas.
The rural areas in Ohio — like Ashland and Richland counties — actually lost population during that time.
Palivoda said declining birth rates may be an issue for labor force participation within the next 10 years, or sooner.
“There was a single sentence from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that stood out to me, and it was that population growth is the single most determining factor to a labor force increase,” she said.
“I think the reality we’ll see in the coming years is workers in older age groups will likely stay in the labor force longer than in the past.”
Thanks to Gorman-Rupp Company, Spherion, North Central State College, Ashland County Community Foundation and The Ohio State University Mansfield for their generous support of trusted independent local journalism.