BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Northern Kentucky's annual job growth is outpacing the rest of Greater Cincinnati by more than two percentage points, according to a report released Thursday.
The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's analysis of the region's job growth from 1986-97 paints a positive picture in seemingly every category. Most new jobs were created in the service and retail sectors, but manufacturing jobs jumped 83 percent in that period. "We've got a well-balanced economy," said University of Cincinnati professor Tom Zinn, the chamber's economist.
The report serves as another indicator for the region that its main problem in a growth economy is finding qualified people to fill the jobs.
"It's definitely a challenge and a little scary," said Judy Gibbons, head of a chamber committee on work force development. Jobs in Northern Kentucky increased from 83,102 to 139,086 in the 11 years covered, which amounts to annual growth of more than 5,000 jobs.
That's a 4.79 percent annual compounded increase, compared with 2 percent in the Cincinnati region as a whole.
Most new jobs were in the service sector and wholesale, retail and trade, though manufacturing increased from 11,029 jobs to 20,210.
The manufacturing increase counters a national trend of fewer jobs in that area, Mr. Zinn said. It also dispels a myth, he said, that Northern Kentucky's economy is exclusively service-oriented. With wages and cost-of-living increases factored in, Mr. Zinn said, manufacturing employees have more purchasing power than the other sectors of the economy.
The biggest percentage increase in jobs -- 220 percent -- came in transportation, communications and utilities.
The catalyst remains the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport, Mr. Zinn said.
The financial, insurance and real estate sectors showed a 129 percent jump in jobs. That's due in large part to Citicorp and Fidelity Investments opening major facilities in the region, Mr. Zinn said. The Northern Kentucky study shows the demand for workers is greatest at the highest- and lowest-paying parts of the economy -- but the demand for workers is about even with supply in other areas.
Real wages, salaries with cost-of-living increases factored in, rose 9.8 percent in the higher-paying manufacturing sector. Wholesale, retail and trade real wages increased 4.1 percent. Those increases also reflect a higher demand for workers in those areas, Mr. Zinn said.
The numbers show a robust economy, Mrs. Gibbons said, but also one that will need workers, Mrs. Gibbons said.
"I do think we need to look at ways of encouraging our senior citizens or those people who are thinking of retiring to stay in the work force in some way," she said.
