Pink Rose Society

Manufacturing in Ohio

Manufacturing is still the largest single industry in Ohio's private economy, and heading into 2026 it is the clearest test of a promise both parties make: that public money and trade policy will bring back good factory jobs. The material record is more complicated than the ribbon-cuttings — big announced investments running years behind, subsidized EV plants shedding workers, and tariffs that help a few Ohio producers while the much larger auto sector absorbs the cost.

The base, in numbers

  • About 687,000 manufacturing jobs (2024) — 16.5% of Ohio's private economy, the single largest industry.
  • $137.9 billion of state GDP, a $49.9 billion payroll, an average wage of $76,493, and $55.8 billion in exports (2024).
  • Ohio ranks 5th nationally in manufacturing output and 3rd in employment, behind only California and Texas. Its dominant subsector is motor vehicles and parts — the "Big Three" alone employ roughly 86,000 Ohioans in vehicles and parts, on top of Honda's large footprint.

The big bets — announced vs. delivered

  • Intel's "Ohio One" chip campus in Licking County was landed with the largest incentive package in state history (~$2 billion) plus about $1.5 billion in federal CHIPS money, for a promised 3,000 jobs. Production has slipped from 2025 to 2030–2031. In August 2025 the federal government converted Intel's remaining CHIPS grant into a 9.9% equity stake in the company.
  • Honda and LG Energy Solution are finishing a ~$3.5 billion EV-battery plant in Fayette County (~2,200 jobs), and Honda has put more than $1 billion into retooling its Marysville, East Liberty, and Anna plants — even as it scaled back its broader EV plans nationally.
  • Anduril's "Arsenal-1" autonomous-weapons factory in Pickaway County is the largest single job-creation project Ohio has ever announced — 4,008 jobs by 2035, backed by a job-creation tax credit and $70 million from the state's All Ohio Future Fund.

When the subsidy runs out

  • Lordstown Motors — the startup that took over the old GM plant — filed for bankruptcy in June 2023 and sued Foxconn over a collapsed funding deal.
  • Ultium Cells in Lordstown, a GM–LG battery plant, laid off about 1,334 workers effective January 2026, after the 2025 federal budget law ended the $7,500 EV tax credit in October 2025. Stellantis cut roughly 1,139 jobs at its Toledo Jeep complex, and Cleveland-Cliffs shed more than 1,200 steel jobs company-wide. The pattern: subsidy-driven jobs are only as durable as the subsidy.

Who pays for the tariffs

2025's 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, plus auto tariffs, split Ohio manufacturers. A Signal Cleveland survey found 18% lost sales and 15% gained — with the losses running nearly twice as deep as the gains. Steelmakers like Cleveland-Cliffs get price protection; the far larger auto, parts, appliance, and construction base eats higher input costs. GM alone booked over $1 billion in tariff costs in a single quarter.

Why it matters in 2026

  • U.S. Senate. Sherrod Brown built his career on the "dignity of work" and a trade-skeptic record; Jon Husted has been the leading Ohio voice defending the CHIPS Act and the Intel deal. The Ohio 2026 U.S. Senate Race is a direct argument over which industrial strategy delivers.
  • OH-9. Marcy Kaptur's manufacturing-first brand keeps Toledo's district competitive; she walked the 2023 Jeep picket line and called the Stellantis layoffs "deeply troubling."
  • Governor. The Ramaswamy–Acton race sets the state's posture on incentives and energy costs that shape where plants land.

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