JobsOhio Releases Annual Report, 2021 Marked As Landmark Year

JobsOhio, the state’s private nonprofit economic development corporation, released its 2021 Annual Report and 2022 Strategic Plan, which showed 2021 to be a landmark year. In 2021, more than 29,000 new jobs were committed, and companies planned more than $6.9 billion in capital investment in Ohio.

While the Intel megaproject is not included as part of last year’s record performance, JobsOhio was able to break records for commitments of new jobs, new jobs payroll, retained jobs, and new projects.

In 2021, JobsOhio and its partners achieved:

• 414 total projects
• 29,104 new jobs
• $1.6 billion new jobs payroll
• 75,416 jobs retained
• $4.5 billion retained jobs payroll
• $6.9 billion in capital investment

JobsOhio is seeking to capitalize on the ongoing trend of attracting successful businesses from coasts in 2022 after nearly 40 new companies relocated from the East and West Coasts to Ohio last year.

In 2021, JobsOhio continued to focus on 10 target industries with high productivity, wages, and economic impact. These industries are tracked because they are “traded sectors,” which means the jobs could be located anywhere and are not tied to providing local services.

After the challenges presented by COVID-19, JobsOhio’s targeted sectors remained resilient, with aggregate employment fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The 10 sectors comprised 36% of Ohio’s gross state product, 28% of its payroll, and 21% of its jobs.

Founded 11 years ago, JobsOhio is a first-of-its-kind private economic development corporation that invests in Ohio’s future. In 2021, JobsOhio took a strategic approach to focus on how the state can best capitalize on its proximity, workforce, infrastructure, and growth opportunities.

These strategic initiatives included:

• Talent: Home to a labor force of almost 5.7 million people and hundreds of higher education institutions, Ohio continues to fuel one of its greatest assets for business: a robust, skilled, and hardworking workforce.
• Sites: SiteOhio gives companies access to an inventory of shovel-ready sites, while the Revitalization Program provides financial assistance to companies that want to redevelop abandoned, neglected, or contaminated properties
• Innovation: Together with the state of Ohio and our healthcare and university partners, JobsOhio has launched one of the nation’s most ambitious and comprehensive economic development initiatives. The Innovation Strategy creates Innovation Districts, funds grants for new R&D centers, and provides businesses with essential growth capital through the JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund.
• Inclusion: As part of the JobsOhio 5-Year Strategic Plan, our inclusion work encompasses intersecting dimensions of underrepresented populations and geographies. As a result, JobsOhio is investing $18.4 million annually across three inclusion-focused programs. By the end of 2021, we have awarded grants to 215 companies that, in turn, have stimulated more than $50 million in new payroll.