LIMA —1,338 jobs. That’s how many full-time openings are listed on OhioMeansJobs.com when you limit the search to within a 10-mile radius around Lima.
For a city of roughly 37,000 people, 1,338 job represents a lot of good news for the people of Lima and the region, whose unemployment numbers have found solid footing underneath Ohio’s average unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. It’s even united U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Lima Mayor David Berger. Both have thrown out the number to show off Lima’s burgeoning economy.
But that single number —1,338 available jobs — is a snippet of a much larger economic reality, one further revealed by diving a little deeper into the numbers.
By the numbers
Unemployment and job number can help tell one story, but wages can help give a little more context. By pulling wage data between 2000 and 2016 directly from the U.S. Census Bureau, wage numbers paint a picture of overall growth in the region as well as a changing distribution of households entering and leaving the lower (defined as households earning less than $35,000 a year), middle (households earning between $35,000 and $100,000) and upper classes (households earning more than $100,000).
Wage data shows that each county has dealt with the last 16 years a little bit differently. Allen County seems to have maintained the number of people in its middle class, and the number of households earning less than $35,000 annually has shrunk, while those earning more than $100,000 has increased.
Putnam and Auglaize Counties better represent national trends. The middle class has been squeezed, but unlike U.S. averages, there hasn’t really been any significant growth of the lower class, or those households earning less than $35,000. Instead, more people are entering the upper class, or those households defined by the Census Bureau as making more than $100,000.
All three counties have increased their median wage. Allen County’s median wage grew from $37,048 in 2000 to $45,575. Putnam County’s grew from $46,426 in 2000 to $60,245 in 2016, and Auglaize County’s median wage grew from $43,367 to $55,914. The national media wage in 2016 was $55,322.
By percentage, Allen County has grown the most — even outpacing national median wage growth — but it has plenty of room to gain. Wages in Allen County, home of the historically-depressed Lima, has had trouble keeping pace with its neighbors.
The new economy
In Lima’s case, Ohio Means Jobs search results offer a clue to why the area has seen growth in the upper class. Searchers will see an obvious trend if they limit the type of jobs by salary range to those offering more than $100,000. Physicians, surgeons, obstetricians, gynecologists, anesthesiologists — highly educated medical professionals — make up most of these job openings. They’re usually filled by candidates found through national searches, Mercy Health St. Rita’s Human Resource Director Jennifer Van Tilbaugh said.
Between 2000 and 2016, the numbers of people employed in Allen County has remained relatively stagnant, but the types of jobs have shifted. Allen County has seen the manufacturing industry shed 3,000 jobs, mostly due to automation of unskilled labor, and the health industry has made up the difference with good paying jobs, according to Census data. The shift is reflected in the increase in households with over $100,000 incomes.
It’s hard to say how many local individuals made the transfer from manufacturing to healthcare, but Van Tilbaugh said it’s not rare. Some individuals have made healthcare a second or even third career.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t manufacturing jobs available in Lima. The industry is still regarded as a major economic pillar throughout the region. But the job itself has changed. Repetitive tasks have largely been replaced by robotics, and the men and women still standing on factory floors are now skilled workers, whose jobs require much more training.
Most openings per job title
The job types with the highest need of people within a 10 mile-radius of Lima as well as their Ohio median wages (according to O*NET) are as listed below.
- Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers — $41,340
- Retail Managers — $36,530
- Registered Nurses — $62,310
- Production Managers — $57,250
- Retail Salespeople — $21,590
- Industrial Engineers — $78,940
- Maintenance and Repair Workers — $38,490
- Licensed Practical and Vocational Nurses — $40,730
- Restaurant Managers — $30,570
- Cashiers — $19,360
Three fall underneath the $35,000 line; they require nothing more than a high school education.
Four hover around $40,000. These require minimal training.
Three of the top 10 needed jobs in the area fall squarely within the middle class. These require at least an associate’s degree.
1,338 jobs. For those looking to find a job in the region, jobs are to be found. That’s good news. But for those men and women who don’t fall into a very specific subset of jobs and industries— such as white collar workers — they don’t have as many options. That, however, might be a different story.
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