Can Actively Attracting Immigrants Help Cities Like Erie Break the Population Death Spiral? (Pittsburgh: how much, unemployment rate)

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So I was driving to work today and I tuned the radio to NPR and listened to a segment about Dayton Ohio, which has shrunk by over 100,000 residents, but is recently experiencing some population growth due to a recent massive influx of Ahiska Turks. I have linked an article below that discusses this a little bit and the most interesting part of the segment was about how Dayton is not only welcoming the immigrants, but has created a campaign and is actively working to attract more immigrants to the area. The campaign is entitled "Welcome Dayton" and in the campaign Dayton is dubbed an "Immigrant Friendly" city. So this got me thinking about if this would work in Erie because similar to Dayton, Erie is a rust belt city that has struggled to recover and find a new identity. It seems that Erie is working to attract immigrants, but I am not sure it is happening on the same level of Dayton and I have not seen a campaign like the Dayton campaign in Erie. Also, one of the key points raised in the NPR story was about the significant rate of entrepreneurship among recent immigrants and how in Dayton many new businesses are springing up and jobs are being created by these ventures. I would love to hear your opinions on this issue and I am interested to see if there is enough public support in Erie for this issue to be addressed by politicians.

Dayton bucks a population decline | Marketplace.org
Welcome Dayton – Immigrant Friendly City

[fisheye]

I am not an Erie resident so you do not have to listen to my two cents. My county has experienced an increase in immigration and I just wanted to throw in my thoughts.

First we have no idea how to distribute the wealth; the rich continue to get rich and the poorer get poorer. We forgot about our homeless; we gave up on them many years ago. We don't even do a great job taking care of our own soldiers. We have no idea how to take care of our own; but we open our arms to the rest of the world. Does that make us better or more generous people?

We created this system that can only survive if we continue to increase our population - of course that means sharing and with less to share. Someday, in the future, there will not be enough to go around. Yes it is possible that technology will help; but not probable. Business is now turning towards robotics to replace many workers. So it is natural to extrapolate that disease, famine, and war will eventually be the call of the day. In biology, if you contaminate a Petri dish with the right agar and incubate the bacteria; eventually all the bacteria will grow until they run out of food/resources. What distinguishes us from that bacteria?

I don't know everything and I am also human - I make mistakes. But where is our planning for a better future for all? We cannot even address the concept of euthanasia for the people that have agreed to it and are now medically vegetables. Allowing immigration from countries, that have never tried to control their own populations, is madness - without a game plan. It is also madness to open our doors to people that do not want to be assimilated into our own culture.

[North Beach Person]

How would these population increasing immigrants support themselves once they move to Erie?

That's why Erie and many areas, not just in PA but across the country, are losing population, the lack of viable jobs.




Note I spelled and used "losing" correctly.

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Originally Posted by North Beach Person

How would these population increasing immigrants support themselves once they move to Erie?

That's why Erie and many areas, not just in PA but across the country, are losing population, the lack of viable jobs.




Note I spelled and used "losing" correctly.

Immigrants are very resourceful and the story I listened to today mentioned that many of these immigrants were creating their own jobs and one specific example that they gave was an immigrant owned trucking company in Dayton that is expanding rapidly.

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fisheye

I see your argument, but I think the major issue we have in rust belt cities like Erie is that we have a city built with infrastructure and space for 150,000+ people and the city is soon about to drop below 100,000 in population. It is not really growth for the sake of growth, but a need to fill the space that has been vacated over the years or the remaining tax base will continue to dwindle and the city/area will suffer more issues. In terms of assimilation, this is another issue altogether and I will point out that many early immigrants to the U.S. did not make much of an effort to assimilate either. This is really not a new issue and the U.S. has always been a melting pot of different cultures. Also, the U.S. does not have a national language and some states like Maine and Louisiana even have a significant number of French speakers while others like Florida have a large number of Spanish speakers.

[I_Like_Spam]

If Erie, or any other city, wants to attract immigrants from abroad or migrants from other states in the union, they need to have economic opportunities.

My grandfather came to the Pittsburgh area back in the day, he heard there were exciting career opportunities in coal extraction and transportation and in steel fabrication in the Pittsburgh area near the beginning of the 20th Century.

It wasn't because Pittsburgh was actively seeking "immigrants" and were open to receiving them, its that the opportunities were available here at the time.


The reason why Pittsburgh- and Erie and a thousand other places- haven't seen the latest immigration boom, is there aren't many opportunities here as compared to Florida or Vegas or North Dakota. It isn't due to the idea that Vegas is somehow "more welcoming" to immigrants.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

If Erie, or any other city, wants to attract immigrants from abroad or migrants from other states in the union, they need to have economic opportunities.

My grandfather came to the Pittsburgh area back in the day, he heard there were exciting career opportunities in coal extraction and transportation and in steel fabrication in the Pittsburgh area near the beginning of the 20th Century.

It wasn't because Pittsburgh was actively seeking "immigrants" and were open to receiving them, its that the opportunities were available here at the time.


The reason why Pittsburgh- and Erie and a thousand other places- haven't seen the latest immigration boom, is there aren't many opportunities here as compared to Florida or Vegas or North Dakota. It isn't due to the idea that Vegas is somehow "more welcoming" to immigrants.

But immigrants are "resourceful".


As mentioned above, immigrants don't tend to go to areas which have no opportunities. Obviously in the Dayton trucking example there was a need going unfilled. Is there one similar in Erie? If so, why hasn't a current resident filled it?

There's a reason immigrants are flocking to the DC Metro area, which I live near. There are jobs, mainly construction, hospitality and lawn services, being the main one for low skill ones and high tech and medicine for the higher trained ones.

I'm from below Erie, that area has been devastated in the last 35 years. Erie at least had GE. Isn't it now gone, or most of it?

I used to work at O-I in Clarion. All that's left on the property now is the clubhouse.

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Originally Posted by North Beach Person

But immigrants are "resourceful".

As mentioned above, immigrants don't tend to go to areas which have no opportunities. Obviously in the Dayton trucking example there was a need going unfilled. Is there one similar in Erie? If so, why hasn't a current resident filled it?

There's a reason immigrants are flocking to the DC Metro area, which I live near. There are jobs, mainly construction, hospitality and lawn services, being the main one for low skill ones and high tech and medicine for the higher trained ones.

I'm from below Erie, that area has been devastated in the last 35 years. Erie at least had GE. Isn't it now gone, or most of it?

I used to work at O-I in Clarion. All that's left on the property now is the clubhouse.

Actually you bring up some great points here and yes in Erie there are many jobs currently going unfilled and a recent survey of the employers I have linked below has identified lack of work ethic and lack of necessary skills as the main culprits for these jobs going unfilled. There are actually many low paying production and moderately skilled factory jobs that go unfilled in Erie and I have spoken with several employers who are really struggling to fill positions in the area. The highly skilled jobs like plastics engineers are also going unfilled, but I think there is really a skills gap issue for the area. In other words, many kids are getting four year college degrees and leaving the area when they can't find employment, but very few are getting technical training or two year degrees to fill these moderately skilled jobs. I agree with the survey linked below and Erie needs to do something to educate/train workers and the work ethic concern could be addressed with immigrants who often have a very strong work ethic. I am a first generation American and I have witnessed this work ethic with my own parents.

Statistics | Erie PA - Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership

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North Beach Person

To also address your question about GE, it is still here and they are chugging along, but I am not sure how much longer things will keep going as they have moved the headquarters to Chicago and opened a second factory in Fort Worth. It is very odd because they keep hiring people at GE and laying them off and hiring them again.

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Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

If Erie, or any other city, wants to attract immigrants from abroad or migrants from other states in the union, they need to have economic opportunities.

Erie actually has a significant number of jobs in plastics and other types of manufacturing and I have had business owners ask me if I know any qualified welders or college students looking to make extra money in manufacturing on a fairly regular basis. There are jobs in Erie, but many of them are relatively low paying and they are pretty tough work. It is surprising to me how many college students turn down the opportunity to make $10-$12 per hour working on an assembly line a few days a week.

Erie unemployment rate falls in February - GoErie.com - Erie, PA
Plastics industry in Erie stages comeback - GoErie.com - Erie, PA