A region’s workforce is a critical measure of its economic success. An examination of a community’s workforce has three distinct components: the size, unemployment rate, and education level of the workforce; the occupation and earnings of the workforce; and the commuting patterns of the workforce. The data collected for this analysis is the 2021 annual location quotient averages, which represent the most recent full year of available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area has a location quotient score greater than one in six NAICS sectors. These six industry sectors are management of companies and enterprises, arts, entertainment, and recreation, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, wholesale trade, and healthcare and social assistance. These top six sectors represent annual average employment of 432,767 and total annual wages of $31,973,070,445. The civilian labor force in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area was 1,124,864 for the congruent data year. These top six industries represent approximately 38.5% of the total civilian labor force within the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area. Overall, the top ten NAICS sectors within the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area represent approximately 717,959 in annual average employment or 63.8% of the total civilian labor force and $46,711,364,745 in total annual wages.
| Manufacturing Labor Wage Rates | ||||
| Area of Study | Cincinnati | Charlotte | Indianapolis | Louisville |
| Industry Sector | Annual Wages Per Employee | Annual Wages Per Employee | Annual Wages Per Employee | Annual Wages Per Employee |
| Manufacturing | $80,362 | $66,720 | $86,591 | $71,084 |
| NAICS 311 Food manufacturing | $66,900 | $50,921 | $60,940 | $60,402 |
| NAICS 312 Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing | $60,193 | $45,873 | $104,276 | $50,978 |
| NAICS 325 Chemical manufacturing | $143,574 | $50,921 | $91,988 | $167,961 |
| NAICS 331 Primary metal manufacturing | $86,488 | $76,824 | $82,033 | $81,443 |
| NAICS 336 Transportation equipment manufacturing | $90,737 | $63,993 | $62,878 | $77,240 |
However, the wage rates for this occupation in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Louisville do not compare well to the wage rates for similar jobs in the same industries in southern cities such as Charlotte as illustrated by the table above. Many southern regions remain highly competitive from a manufacturing wage rate standpoint driven by long-term adoption of Right to Work laws which have limited labor union participation.