From the rustbelt to the mid-South to Silicon Valley, the areas of the country that added jobs at the fastest pace during the past year have benefitted from a variety of factors, from the revitalization of the automobile industry to a surge in exports to the newest new things to emerge from the nation’s high-tech labs.
Of course, no area of the country is undergoing explosive growth, and even those that are doing better than most are cautious about the immediate outlook for their regions’ economies and jobs. “The view from our little corner of the world is that the economy is growing, but it’s not very fast and there’s considerable danger that it could start going in the other direction,” said Michael Nelson, chairman of the economics department at the University Akron. That city ranked second in October among metro areas in the rate of job growth year over year.
For the second month in a row, Fort Wayne stood atop the rankings as it continues to benefit from the rebirth of auto making and high levels of defense spending. Akron moved up seven notches to earn its second-place slot after a number of major companies that have historically called the city home recently recommitted to that part of Ohio, which is better known these days for being the birthplace of Lebron James than for its legacy as the tire capital of America.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Bridgestone/Firestone may no longer be making tires there, but they both built new research and technical centers in Akron during the past year. That led to a boost in construction jobs and several collateral expansions.
The city also has begun attracting foreign parts-manufacturers who want to be near Japanese and domestic automakers, which still build a large share of their vehicles in the Midwest. Röchling, a German plastics company that specializes in injection molding, just completed a $15 million facility that employs 125 skilled machinists. “You can still find machinists here because of the legacy of manufacturing in our area,” said a spokeswoman for the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce.
