Let's take a look at respective labor distributions of Ann Arbor, MI (DP) and Columbus, OH (moi).
Ann Arbor, MI: <http://www.ersys.com/usa/26/2603000/labor.htm>. Columbus, OH: <http://www.ersys.com/usa/39/3918000/labor.htm>.
Ann Arbor and Columbus have similar labor distribution profiles.
In Ann Arbor, 15,910 are said to fall into the category "Education, Training, and Library Occupations"; in Columbus, 41,700 fall into the same.
In Ann Arbor, the category "Education, Training, and Library Occupations" ranks in numerical strength below "Office and Administrative Support Occupations" (40,990), "Production Occupations" (33,950), "Sales and Related Occupations" (27,070), "Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations" (18,830), and "Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations" (16,570), but above other categories.
In Columbus, the category "Education, Training, and Library Occupations" ranks below "Office and Administrative Support Occupations" (169,930), "Transportation and Material Moving Occupations" (73,830), "Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations" (73,020), "Production Occupations" (71,410), "Management Occupations" (58,180), but above other categories.
The conclusion (based on unscientific breakdowns made available by ERSYS, which lists BLS as its source) is that the education sector is not the most important industry in either Ann Arbor or Columbus, but in both cities it employs a sizable segment of the labor force, and given the ideological role it plays, it definitely cannot be neglected.
In terms of sheer number, make sure you make some headway organizing office workers of all kinds. (Also keep in mind that a significant number of office workers are employed on campus, along with non-negligible numbers of food prep workers, custodians, transportation workers, etc.)
We also need to analyze the demographics of the student bodies, but that's for another post, perhaps. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>