Behind the Census: Connected Communities

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Behind the Census: Connected Communities

Publications of the U.S. Census Bureau statistics are not likely to be on best-seller lists, but they can stimulate thoughtful reflections. The Bureau’s recent population estimates for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) places the 15-county Cincinnati MSA as the largest in Ohio. Our population is growing slowly, but mainly in places outside of the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Metropolitan statistics, however, tell only part of the story. They do not identify the differences within our MSA, nor do they describe the relationships that exist within an area. It is necessary to “drill down” to get a better picture. The Economics Center for Education & Research has used the Census Bureau statistics and other data to study the particular relationship between population and employment patterns in both the city of Cincinnati and within the Cincinnati MSA.

Zachary Karabell, in a Wall Street Journal article on June 30, 2008, explained that what we often view as a national or regional economy is really thousands of smaller economies. Within the Cincinnati MSA there are many “economies” that are interconnected in sometimes unexpected ways. For example, we know that population growth is critical to the vibrancy of an area. It has a direct impact on the labor force, which in turn affects employment growth. But to conclude that the benefits of population growth are restricted to the counties where the population is growing is a mistake. While the location of jobs is specific to a jurisdiction and thus will have an impact on a locality’s tax revenues from earnings taxes or property taxes, workers are mobile and the labor force is not respectful of geographic boundaries.

The Economics Center tracked the flow of workers. In the Cincinnati MSA there are roughly one million jobs. About 25 percent of these are located within the City of Cincinnati. Most of these jobs pay above average wages and are located downtown or in the uptown area of the University of Cincinnati and nearby hospitals. People who live outside the city hold about 60 percent of these jobs. That’s 155,000 people who are willing to travel to acquire these good jobs. The City is an economic magnet for thousands of people. The city needs this labor force, and the labor force wants its jobs.

“Reverse commuters,” those people who live in the City of Cincinnati but work in other parts of the region, number approximately 55,000. They provide the labor needed in places as diverse as Covington, Campbell County, Warren County and West Chester.

Economists often like to say that informed voluntary trade benefits both parties. Such seems to be the case as many “economies” in the Cincinnati MSA interact with one another.