Job market in Ohio

[bellhead]

Ford is adding 300 jobs at it's Lima engine plant, so the job market is improving in Ohio if you are willing to work production.

Lima’s new engine -

All of these are union jobs btw paying in the mid 20's per hour, plus some skill trade jobs that pay higher.

[CinciFan]

Check out this link to see how Cincinnati and Cleveland compare to surrounding cities. Columbus isn't included, unfortunately.

Economy - Percent Change in Jobs by Sector

[fortwaynebandit]

I live 12 miles from NW Ohio and the job market in that area is pretty miserable. The 300 jobs that are coming to Lima may well be filled by employees transferring from another Ford facility, as Ford UAW employees would have first rights to any new positions that opened within the company. If another plant closes, those jobs may be gone in a single day due to transferring employees.Even if they are not, then you can expect for what they'll be paying (BTW, new hires actually make LOWER wages than existing UAW workers thanks to concessions made several years ago) you are going to have between 3-5k people applying for the jobs;perhaps even more.

There is some manufacturing in the area. But those jobs are either filled internally or they are never filled when they are vacated and existing employees simply have to work harder. That's how things have been here for the last 8 years and things don't seem to be improving.

Toledo is the largest city in the area. But it has been on hard times for the past 15 years or so and things don't look promising. There are some service jobs and the cost of living is relatively low. But Ohio municipalities also take taxes from your wages, in addition to county and state tax, so you are going to be making less than you might in other places. If you live between Fort Wayne (my current home) and Toledo, you could work in either. However, Indiana also takes state taxes out of your check even if you don't live here, so you'd do better to live in Indiana if you decide to work here.

The rest of the area between Toledo and Dayton is rural and with the exception of the Honda plant in Marysville there are few major employers in this part of the state.

Some free advice: If you can afford to do so, when you have decided on an area, travel there for a week or two and drive around to see if you like it. Read the newspapers,listen to the radio and watch the news reports. If you think that it is an area where you'd like to be, then I would send out resumes and see what happens.

Better to do that than move over this way, find out that you or your wife hate it and then either be stuck or plan on moving again within a few years.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.