25 Ohio Companies on America’s Most Responsible Companies List

This report is a summary of third-party economic research and perspectives to foster communication with business and economic development stakeholders.

Key Economic Insights

• Global: Morgan Stanley raised their 2022 GDP growth projections for China to 5.5%.
• U.S.: Nonfarm payrolls grew by 199,000 in December, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9%.
• Ohio: World leader in food packaging to open R&D Center in Washington Court House.

Global Insights

Over 59% of the eligible global population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.  Eurozone consumer prices rose a record 5% in December on an annual basis, a pickup from the previous record of 4.9% in November. Eurozone producer prices rose at a faster pace in November, with the producer price index (PPI) rising 23.7% annually following a 21.9% increase in October. Excluding energy, the producer price inflation accelerated to 9.8%.  German factory orders rebounded more than expected in November. Germany’s unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in December, and retail sales rose 0.6% to a record annual high in November.

China’s manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 50.3 in December, marking the second consecutive month of expansion. Nonmanufacturing PMI rose to 52.7 in December, up from 52.3 in November. Morgan Stanley raised their GDP growth projections for China to 5.5% in 2022.  Japan’s consumer confidence index fell for the first time in four months.

U.S. Insights

The U.S. labor market posted a twelfth consecutive month of job growth in December. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 199,000 during the month, below estimates of an increase of 422,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9%, better than the estimated 4.1%. Weekly jobless claims rose to 207,000 for the week ended January 1. Continuing claims rose to 1.754M, up from a revised 1.718M during the prior week.

Quits rose 8.9% from October to a record high of 4.53M in November, according to the latest BLS JOLTS data. As a percentage of the workforce, the quits rate was 3%. Job Openings totaled 10.56M during the month, down from a revised 11.09M in October. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in December, with the ISM Manufacturing PMI registering 58.7 in December, marking the 19th consecutive month of growth. The ISM Services PMI fell to 62% in December, down from a record high 69.1% the prior month.

The Federal Reserve will begin to wind down stimulus for the U.S. economy at a quicker pace, doubling the reduction of its asset-purchase program. Current interest rates were left unchanged, but Fed official now expect at least one rate hike in 2022. The IRS raised the mileage rate deduction for business use of vehicles to 58.5 cents per mile in 2022, up nearly 4.5% from 2021.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) published a report outlining suggested changes in federal policy to better enable growth in critical goods sectors. U.S. factory orders rose 1.6% in November. The U.S. trade deficit rose 19.3% from October to a near-record high. U.S. construction spending increased 0.4% in November.  Home price growth in the U.S. slowed for the third consecutive month in October.  Over 74% of the eligible U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and over 62% is fully vaccinated.

Ohio Employment & Economic Insights

25 Ohio companies ranked among the top 500 in the U.S in Newsweek’s “America’s Most Responsible Companies 2022” including Mettler-Toledo, Avient, and Sherwin-Williams.  Greater Cincinnati venture-backed startups had a record-setting year in 2021 as the region recorded nearly $650M in capital raised, nearly quadrupling its fundraising total of $187M from 2020.

Starting January 1, 2022, Ohio’s minimum wage rose nearly 5.7% to $9.30 per hour, more than $2 above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The $0.50 hourly increase is the largest since 2006 and is now the second highest minimum wage of the five states surrounding Ohio (IN, WV, KY, PA, MI).

Ohio launched the Brownfield Remediation Program to provide nearly $350M in grants to clean up sites for future economic development activity across the state. Nearly 100 airports across the state will receive a total of $254M in federal funding over the next five years as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The new Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, administered by the Ohio Department of Development, will provide nearly $150M in grants to raze dilapidated commercial and residential buildings, and will also disburse more than $2.5M in industry sector partnership grants to 13 recipients.  Over 7.06M Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccination process.

Resources

• Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 Website: coronavirus.ohio.gov
• JobsOhio’s resource portal and information about Open, Secure Supply Chains in Ohio.