But a new report from Team NEO shows that headquarters employment in the region is roughly 49,000 — a historic high.
The report also reveals that Northeast Ohio enjoys the nation’s fourth largest share of headquarters jobs — headquarters employment compared with overall employment in a region.
Team NEO officials say the report is designed to show that while some headquarters facilities have disappeared or trimmed jobs, overall headquarters employment has climbed significantly since 1990.
“The reality is we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 headquarters in Northeast Ohio and employment in headquarters has grown” — from 19,000 in 1990 to nearly 49,000 in 2013, said Jenny Febbo, vice president of marketing for business attraction group Team NEO.
The study shows the jobs cover an 18-county region that includes Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark, Portage, Medina and Wayne.
Team NEO used U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data to arrive at the number, counting employees at facilities in the area that the bureau defines as being involved in the “management of companies and enterprises,” said Jacob Duritsky, managing director of research for Team NEO.
The size ranges from those operated by big multinational corporations such as Goodyear to small family-owned businesses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data does not provide the names of the companies.
Duritsky said while the 49,000 headquarters jobs make up about 3 percent of Northeast Ohio employment, the jobs represent more than 6 percent of all wages in the region.
He said the region’s 160 percent growth in headquarters employment from 1990 to 2013 outpaces the growth for the nation as a whole.
Duritsky said some of the region’s growth is no doubt attributable to companies consolidating headquarters operations here as they shipped jobs out of the country.
He said Northeast Ohio has long had a competitive edge in attracting headquarters. That includes a healthy supply of support services — including legal firms, accounting businesses and banks — that are a legacy of the region’s manufacturing heyday.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
