Q3 Recap: Unifying Innovation, Accelerating Growth, and Showcasing Ohio to the World

Business Leaders and Community Stakeholders,

I am pleased to provide this recap of JobsOhio’s Q3 Public Board of Directors meeting, which took place at Metallus’ corporate office in Canton-Massillon. I want to extend my gratitude again to Governor Mike DeWine and his Administration, as well as our JobsOhio Network Presidents.

A link to the full Q3 2024 JobsOhio Board Meeting can be found here.

A Vision for Ohio’s Economic Future, According to Governor Mike DeWine

Governor DeWine set the tone for this quarter’s meeting with a striking address that emphasized the strength of our public-private partnership model.

“This is Ohio’s time!” he declared, pointing to our state’s impressive economic turnaround and the reversal of historical out-migration trends. Since 2019, 60 companies from the East and West Coast have expanded their businesses in Ohio, creating more than 17,000 new jobs here.

In-migration trends are particularly notable among prime working age groups (25-44). Ohio experienced an increase of nearly 124,000 highly mobile, early/mid-career professionals from 2019-2023, or a 6% increase. Hard-working individuals and their families are having it all in the heart of it all, and apparently, word has gotten around.

Working together across the public and private sectors, we are identifying regulatory reforms and enacting legislation that has significantly improved the competitiveness of Ohio’s business climate - tax policies, megaproject incentives, industrial site preparation, and infrastructure investments, among others.

Ohio’s Unified Innovation Ecosystem

In 2019, we announced JobsOhio 2.0, identifying Innovation as a key pillar. It quickly led to the establishment of Innovation Districts in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, designed to be highly collaborative physical environments for cutting-edge research that breaks down the silos between academia, industry, and government and quickly translates discoveries into marketable new products and services.

The state of Ohio, JobsOhio, and our anchor institutions committed to investing $3 billion in Ohio’s innovation future during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting ambitious 10-year goals that we are well on track to achieve.

• NIH funding reached a record $1 billion in 2023 alone.
• We’re on track to generate 47,500 STEM graduates.
• Ohio now ranks #1 in the Midwest for life science degrees and #2 for STEM degrees.
• Our Innovation Districts have already achieved 25% of their job creation goal of 60,000 and 33% of the projected economic impact of $9 billion.

While each of our Innovation Districts has its own unique strengths, we recognized that their combined impact is far greater than the sum of their parts. Our research showed that when combined across key innovation metrics, these Districts emerge as a top-10 market nationally.

Climbing the Rankings: Ohio’s Economic Momentum

In 2024, Ohio has not only recovered but catapulted into a national leadership position:

• #1 Global Groundwork Ranking (2 years in a row)
• #2 Mega Projects (2 years in a row)
• #2 Foreign Direct Investment and Reshoring
• #2 Cost of Doing Business (CNBC Top States for Business)
• #7 Top States for Business (CNBC Top States for Business)

Most importantly, we’ve completely reversed job losses seen in previous decades, adding 222,000 new jobs in our targeted industries, greater than 22% gains.

Ohio is the only state in the U.S. to consistently place in the top 5 of Site Selection’s Governor’s Cup rankings for total economic development projects and projects per capita since 2019. Geographic diversity remains a focal point as major metropolitans and growing micropolitans showed fantastic performance.

• #3 Total Projects
• #5 Per Capita Projects
• #2 Dayton-Kettering (Per Capita)
• #3 Columbus (Global Groundwork)
• #4 Cincinnati (Global Groundwork)
• 16 micropolitans in Site Selection’s Top 100 for growth, and most in the Top 10

Over the past decade, we’ve experienced tremendous growth in statewide outcomes. But in the last five years, we’ve really hit the accelerator.

Statewide Economic Outcomes (2019-2023 vs. 2014-2018):

• 2,155 Projects (+47%)
• 126,517 New Jobs (+14%)
• $6.6B New Payroll (+27%)
• $67B Capital Expenditure (+85%)

A Model of Efficiency: JobsOhio Beverage System Performance

The JobsOhio Beverage System continues to be a cornerstone of our long-term success:

• Since 2019, profits have increased by 42%, not including the $481M in profits for FY ‘24
• We’ve maintained a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% over the last five years
• Deferred payments to the state treasury are up 268% since 2019

These exceptional results have been recognized by Moody’s upgrade of our bond rating to Aa2 from Aa3 and the prestigious StateWays Overall Best Practices Award for 2024.

2024 Forbes Under 30 Summit

JobsOhio Chief of Staff Phil Greenberg shared an overview of the recent Forbes Under 30 Summit in Cincinnati. This high-profile event, part of our three-year partnership with Forbes, brought the world’s leading young entrepreneurs and their audiences to the heart of the Queen City.

The summit began with Lt. Governor Jon Husted and JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef warmly welcoming attendees, kicking off a week of showcasing what Ohio has to offer the world’s brightest minds and most innovative companies.

A notable addition this year was the first-of-its-kind Women in Sports Summit at TQL Stadium, featuring Olympic Gold Medalist Sarah Nurse and NWSL player Midge Purce, among other influential female pioneers in sports.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to bring the Forbes Under 30 Summit to Columbus next year, building on our momentum and underscoring Ohio’s growing reputation as a destination for talent, innovation, and entrepreneurship.