ABSTRACT
This chapter represents the aerospace and defense industry in Ohio with distinct clusters that best define the industry: Aerospace Manufacturing, Research and Development, Federal and Military, and Aviation. Aerospace Manufacturing is an important component of Ohio's economy. Ohio supports direct Aerospace Manufacturing jobs. The rate of increase has been just above the US average, but Ohio lags the nation in the percent of the population holding bachelor's degrees and graduate or professional degrees. The chapter provides a step-by-step model for any region of the country that desires to focus on the workforce and economic development of an in-demand industry. It focuses on workforce demand and how a region can build a robust ecosystem to react to needs within an Industry. A healthy workforce ecosystem can have three states: meeting current industry demand, anticipating future industry demand, or strategically driving industry growth.
