25 Ohio Companies on America’s Most Responsible List

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.

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.

Ohio Employment & Economic Insights

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.

Ohio Company News

• Plastilene, a global leader in development and production of high-quality, responsible packaging, announced plans to further develop its North American market in Washington Court House.
• Forge Biologics, a hybrid gene therapy contract manufacturing and clinical-stage therapeutics development company, closed $80M in additional financing and will expand its Columbus facility to over 200K SF.
• Tesla plans to open a new service center in Moraine, the fifth Ohio location and its first in the Dayton area.
• ConAgra Brands plans a fourth expansion of its operation in Troy with a 15,000-SF building addition, around 100 new employees and a $60M investment.
• Monitored Therapeutics plans to expand operations at a new 17,000 SF HQ in Dublin, spending nearly $650,000 on buildout and equipment and planning to add 35 jobs.
• Sam Dong Ohio plans to construct a 4,400 SF addition in Delaware Industrial Park to manufacture copper wire for use in electric and hybrid vehicles. The plan, awaiting final approval, would eventually add up to 25 new jobs.
• Unilock plans to start site work for a 96,000 SF manufacturing facility in Harrison Township. The total investment for the expansion is expected to be more than $40M.
• Milo’s Whole World Gourmet, a manufacturer of branded and private specialty foods, will invest $1M to build a new 2,100-SF production facility in Nelsonville. The new facility is expected to be open by spring 2022.
• Dreadnought Capital merged with Seattle-based SaaS Capital to raise a new $128M fund for tech startup loans.
• PsyBio Therapeutics expanded a previously established research collaboration with Miami University that is anticipated to expedite progress toward filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. FDA.
• Ohio Valley Surgical Hospital in Springfield has formed a joint venture with Dayton-based Premier Health and Columbus-based OhioHealth for shared ownership of the surgical hospital.
• Signature Mortgage in Canton has been acquired by New Orleans-based Eustis Mortgage Corporation.
• Midwest Logistics Systems, a 1,000-truck driver operation out of Celina has been acquired by Schneider National for a $263M all-cash deal.

Resources

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