With the solar industry on the rise across the country and in Ohio, Cleveland sees a bright future as jobs double. The Solar Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, recently released employment data indicating a number of states have greatly benefited from solar jobs. And Ohio is taking the lead. A recent report states that 5,831 people were employed in the Ohio solar industry in 2016. “Definitely Ohio is the heavyweight among its neighboring states,” said Andrea Luecke, President and Executive Director of The Solar Foundation. The number of solar jobs in Cleveland doubled in 2016 to 1,632 workers representing nearly 30 percent of the state’s total solar workforce.

According to Luecke, solar energy adds tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy annually. Experts are encouraging solar states like Ohio to continue investing in the solar industry. In 2016, the U.S. solar industry employed more than 250,000 workers generating a $62.5B economic impact and creating nearly 789,000 jobs nationwide. In other words, every solar job creates two additional indirect jobs that support the industry.

“After years of economic decline from the loss of manufacturing and other industrial facilities, Cleveland has spent much of its resources on economic revitalization diversifying its industry portfolio without relying too heavily on any one sector for job growth,” noted Victor J. Bierman III, Ohio lawyer and business expert. Capitalizing on solar makes economic sense for Cleveland. Sustainability and clean energy is big here, and in Ohio as a whole, and Clevelanders have embraced solar as the next big thing in green energy. In fact, Mike Foley, head of the Department of Sustainability in Cuyahoga County, has even gone so far as predicting “in 10 years a rooftop that doesn’t have solar will look funny and will look out of place, ” in a Midwest Energy News article.

In cooperation with OH SUN, the Cuyahoga County Solar Co-Op is helping to educate local residents throughout the Cleveland Metropolitan area about solar energy and adding solar panels to their rooftops. With the increase of high paying solar jobs ($26/hr. avg.) combined with the recent economic growth, the sun is rising again in Cleveland.

Image Credit: Andrew Fogg

Talent is a top priority at any workplace. And in order for companies to compete in today’s very competitive global marketplace, they need to not only recruit top talent, but retain them as well. But According to polls released in 2016 by the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) , around two-thirds of employers interviewed agreed that recruiting and retaining qualified workers is a top business challenge here.

And retaining employees is often more challenging than recruitment. Workers are not staying in their jobs as long as they used to. The average millennial changes jobs approximately every 4.4 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Job changes are not always related to pay. If an employee becomes bored or doesn’t feel there are career advancement opportunities, they may begin to transition elsewhere. Between networking, social media and online job boards, changing jobs is just one click away.

But the local job market is also a reflection of Cleveland’s growing pains in an economy that is on the move. For instance, Crain’s Cleveland Business notes that a new restaurant pops up in or around downtown Cleveland just about every week. There is just not enough talent to fill local demand for these positions. “It’s an employees’ market right now,” said Chris Hodgson, co-owner Driftwood Restaurant Group. “We’ve started to expand our new hire search outside the city, like Columbus.”

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported that the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9% in December, 2016, with an increase of 10,300 jobs. The industries with the largest gains were service providers, leisure and hospitality, and educational and health services fields adding 41,000, 13,300, and 11,200 jobs, respectively.

Also, Cleveland businesses that find recruiting and retaining qualified workers difficult can rely on a number of strategies to help them turn things around. First, they can consider upgrading their employees’ skills through advanced education or job-related training. And this can be achieved through a financial assistance program. Companies can also offer a mentoring program as a way of retaining employees they have recruited. According to Lauren Rudman, president of the Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management, learning opportunities can help in recruiting and retaining employees as well. And this can be done through coaching, a cross functional project, and participation in a leadership development program, among others.

“Additionally, the State of Ohio offers a number of programs that can help Cleveland employers attract and retain qualified talent. Through its website, OhioMeansJobs, employers can search through a database of over two million resumes to find available workers with specific skill sets. There are also a number of tools and other resources available for human resource professionals,” noted Victor Bierman, Ohio lawyer and business expert.

Image Credit: Tim