Greater Cleveland Partnership and Team NEO collaborate on talent needs deep dive
Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) and Team NEO are shining a light on the state of information technology (IT) employment in the Northeast Ohio Region, publishing two key reports that offer insights about this key sector for the regional economy.
GCP’s 2022 RITE Talent Bulletin provides insights into the demand for IT talent across all sectors. Highlights of the 2022 RITE Talent Bulletin include:
- Tech talent is growing. From 2016-2020, tech talent in the Northeast Ohio Region grew by 4%, from 39,500 jobs to 45,274.
- IT occupations span a variety of business functions. No matter which functional areas, roles are both diverse and dynamic as businesses digitize their processes and technologies advance.
- The top six IT investments now and in the next five years are diverse and innovative. They include Cybersecurity, Data Integrity/Warehousing, Cloud Migration, Social Media, Business Intelligence, and Digital Marketing.
“To cite Forbes, ‘Every company is a technology company,’ and every company needs more and more skilled technology talent,” said Baiju R. Shah, GCP’s president and CEO. “Through this work with our partners at Team NEO, we are deepening our collective knowledge to inform our region’s talent initiatives to ensure we can meet growing industry needs and support more inclusive opportunities to accelerate growth and prosperity throughout our region.”
“We are excited to share this information to help generate more interest in the field and galvanize people around our work,” said Courtney DeOreo, GCP’s senior director, tech talent and executive director, RITE, the technology talent arm of GCP. “Understanding the IT talent needs of regional employers is critical to our All-In approach and collaborative work with a broad range of stakeholders to build a diverse tech talent pipeline.”
Team NEO’s May 2022 Quarterly Economic Review (QER) provides data demonstrating that demand for talent over the last 20 years in the sectors that have grown despite two recessions, rely heavily on IT professions. For example:
- Demand for IT talent grew in corporate headquarters, health care, and professional, services sectors. By 2027, headquarters employment is projected to grow more than 64%, health care 21%,and professional services almost 6.5% over 2001.
Other key findings:
- The professional, services sector offers the most IT jobs. In 2021, this sector accounted for 43% of the region’s computer and math jobs.
- Software developers and programmers top the list of computer and math occupations. Of the 47,000+ computer and math jobs in Northeast Ohio, software developers and programmers account for 16,400, with computer and information analysts at 9,600.
- Many computer and math occupations command family-sustaining wages. The family sustaining wage today is $30 per hour or $62,400 annually. Many occupations in the IT industry surpass this figure, making it an attractive industry for new or transitioning workers.
This QER also includes a look at how the IT industry plays into the Vibrant Economy Index (VEI), a tool launched earlier this year that provides a more detailed, nuanced, and accurate measure of the Northeast Ohio Region’s economic success by focusing on broader data sets relating to unemployment by race and gender, education attainment and poverty.
“We value the opportunity to collaborate with organizations such as the Greater Cleveland Partnership in addressing key competitive differentiators for Northeast Ohio. Our economy is growing and transforming as supply chain companies in our historically strong industries implement technology solutions to make products more efficiently with higher value embedded in them,” noted Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler. “Building a deeper pool of IT talent over time will be a key driver of our success in leveraging that transformational opportunity to outpace economic performance of peer communities across the country.”
Team NEO publishes the Quarterly Economic Review to provide a holistic picture of the 18 counties of the Northeast Ohio Region’s economy. This is the same geographic footprint covered in GCP’s RITE Talent Bulletin. The nonprofit organizations use this information to attract new businesses and jobs to Northeast Ohio and help those that are here grow. For this QER report, Burning Glass EMSI and Moody’s economy.com sources were used to aggregate regional figures.
About Team NEO
Team NEO is a private, nonprofit economic development organization accelerating business growth and job creation throughout the 18 counties of the Northeast Ohio Region. As the designated JobsOhio Network Partner, we align and amplify local economic development efforts in the region’s 18-counties; we conduct research and data analysis to inform local conversations and influence solutions; we market the Northeast Ohio Region; and we work to increase access to jobs, education and training for the region’s 4.3 million people. We do this to build a more vibrant regional economy; one that is more talented, equitable, competitive, innovative, resilient and prosperous. For more information, visit teamneo.org.
About the Greater Cleveland Partnership and RITE
Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) is the region’s leading economic development organization, and with over 12,000 members, the largest metropolitan chamber of commerce in the nation. Guided by a board of corporate and entrepreneurial CEOs, the organization focuses on strategic initiatives, business services, and advocacy to build a vibrant business environment and region for small, middle-market companies and global corporations. GCP is committed to working with private, civic, and public partners to accelerate growth and prosperity to propel Greater Cleveland towards being one of the Great Regions in the Great Lakes.
RITE is the tech talent arm of GCP and the leading industry-driven IT workforce alliance in Northeast Ohio. GCP RITE accelerates the development of a diverse, highly skilled IT workforce through deep engagement with regional higher education, high school career exposure programming, work-based learning initiatives, and the local Workforce Connect IT Sector Partnership in Cuyahoga County. As the unifying force for IT talent development in the region, we provide a sustainable structure for industry, education, workforce, and economic development to work together to advance employer-driven education and workforce strategies and systems-change.