Where Are the Workers?

News headlines underscore a growing crisis among businesses: A severe shortage of talent for current and future positions.

The Where are the Workers analysis is being led by Fund for Our Economic Future, Team NEO, ConxusNEO, PolicyBridge, with funding support from The Kresge Foundation, Deaconess Foundation and the Summit & Medina Workforce Area Council of Governments. Together, we are working to understand the question on everyone’s mind: Where are the workers?

Join us in this important conversation. Subscribe for ongoing updates and invitations to participate in this important research, and read below what we’ve published so far.

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Featured Story

Will people rejoin the workforce? How many workers will quit this year? Survey of 5,000 Northeast Ohioans offers clues

on 20 May 2022

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Despite the all the turnover during the “Great Resignation,” 1-in-5 workers in the Northeast Ohio are still thinking of quitting in the next year.

Research Updates

Employers, workforce agencies, policymakers, and others needed answers yesterday, so we won’t be waiting for the ink to dry on the final report to share key insights and answer questions. Read on for updates on the work as it progresses.

Courting Talent: Empathy as a Competitive Advantage

The data emerging from this survey offer an unprecedented look into the hearts and minds of Northeast Ohio’s workforce, with statistically significant insights into residents of 11 counties that we can examine through nearly endless permutations of demographics, geography and industry.

on 20 May 2022

Data and research drive Where are the Workers, efforts to create an equitable economy

By Jacob Duritsky, Vice President, Strategy and Research – TeamNEO Talent is critical to the success of any region, and in this post-pandemic economy, this has

on 10 May 2022

Work Culture Clash

...in the employer roundtables happening around the region as part of our analysis, much of what we’re hearing from participating employers is focused on figuring out what’s wrong with today’s workers—and not so much about what might be wrong with today’s work.

on 29 March 2022

More resources, yes. But what public transit agencies really need are more flexible resources.

In short, we need more resources—and those resources must be flexible enough to enable necessary adaptation—to meet employment needs in today’s world.

on 01 March 2022

What’s Behind Workers’ Decisions? We’re Asking Them.

...to understand why people quit, why they stay, what keeps them from working if they want or need to, and how their perceptions and values around work have evolved through the seismic societal shifts we’ve all experienced over the last several years.

on 25 February 2022

An equitable recovery: Moving beyond a return to status quo

Black women are returning to the labor force. But is this a good thing? Well, it depends on why they are returning.

on 09 February 2022

New survey reveals what employers are (or aren’t) doing to mitigate talent challenges

You know the saying, “people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers?” Forget it. People are quitting their jobs.

on 02 February 2022

How a Shifting Financial Position May Be Impacting Worker Choices

Improved financial position may have enabled a significant number of workers to step onto the sideline—but that party may be ending soon.

on 22 December 2021

Take Our Regional Employer Survey

Now through January 10, we’re joining partners across the region to ask businesses to participate in our Regional Employer Survey. If you are a business owner, hiring manager, human resources professional or other leader tasked with finding and retaining talent in Northeast Ohio, we want to hear from you.

on 17 December 2021

Anecdotes and Evidence—A National Scan of Worker Shortage Analyses

This post takes stock of what national data and analyses can—or can’t—explain relative to the current state of the Northeast Ohio labor market. The chart below summarizes what we learned after exploring three questions:

on 02 December 2021

The Fund for Our Economic Future, Team NEO, and ConxusNEO and PolicyBridge have embarked on a multi-part analysis to better understand what’s happening in our region and answer the question on everyone’s mind: Where are the workers?

on 22 November 2021

Questions? Ideas? Want to get involved?

Get in touch at watw@thefundneo.org, or click here to subscribe for updates.

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Sara McCarthy

Sara McCarthy is the Fund's Director of Communications.

Published

November 30, 2021

Where Are the Workers?