Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh (King of Prussia, Oakland, Penn: buses, relocating, commute)

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by RightonWalnut

As ElijahAustin put it, this article is hyperbole at it's finest. It's a click-bait article. While I do agree that Pittsburgh has done a fine job of attracting some big name companies (Google, Uber, etc.), these companies are bringing a couple hundred jobs each, and really aren't doing much for the overall job market. Where Pittsburgh is lacking comparatively, is in the start-up world, and the venture capitalism world. It has increased the past few years, but it still has a while to go. This in my mind, will do a low more for the overall economy and job growth. So while Pittsburgh has done a good job in shifting the economy and sectors it's depending on around, this has yet to translate into job growth (which is still slow or stagnant), or population growth (which is still stagnant or declining).

On the other hand, Philadelphia needs to take a note out of Pittsburgh's playbook to learn how to attract some more big names, and headquarters for large companies. Where Philadelphia has been doing exceedingly well however (and somewhere Pitt can learn from Philadelphia on), is in start-up growth, and attracting VC funding. It's not to the level of San Francisco, but Philadelphia has increased exponentially over the past few years. This is already translated into job growth (pretty significant job growth too), and population growth (albeit slow and could be faster).

The article uses quotes from Drexel president John Fry which were taken out of context, but still have merit. Philadelphia cannot get complacent... while the changes and growth to the city are phenomenal over the past few years, we have to be continuing to look towards improving the city. There are still a lot of areas Philadelphia could, and needs to improve upon. Pittsburgh also has many areas it could, and needs to improve upon. I think both cities need to continue to work with each other, and look to each other to better each other, and the state.

I do see Pittsburgh and Philadelphia both having a successful 21st Century, but I do not see Pittsburgh eating Philadelphia's lunch. The cities that ARE eating Philadelphia's lunch already in many aspects are San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Seattle. We need to work towards improving our city government, so we can work towards a better future in Philadelphia, or these cities are going to continue to surpass us.

Awesome post! Beautifully stated. Never before in Philly's history has it been surrounding by so many cities right on its heels. As you said, the city must keep pushing forward and think progressively and not become complacent. I shudder to think of Philly as not being considered a top 10 U.S. city.
As for Pittsburgh, while it punches above its weight and ranks high on livability ratings, I think the city could show improvement by continuing to improve its economy and start growing the population on a larger school, if only a little at first.

[RightonWalnut]

Philadelphia - North Broad's majestic Met to open as a Live Nation music venue in 2018
Read more here:North Broad's majestic Met to open as a Live Nation music venue in 2018

Avenue of the Arts hotel hits milestone with 'topping off'
Read more here: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...t-top-off.html

[jjv007]

Originally Posted by jjv007

Awesome post! Beautifully stated. Never before in Philly's history has it been surrounding by so many cities right on its heels. As you said, the city must keep pushing forward and think progressively and not become complacent. I shudder to think of Philly as not being considered a top 10 U.S. city.
As for Pittsburgh, while it punches above its weight and ranks high on livability ratings, I think the city could show improvement by continuing to improve its economy and start growing the population on a larger school, if only a little at first.

Meant to say "scale" not "school" lol ^^

[MarketStEl]

Latest employment growth stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Philadelphia metro, Feb. 2017: +2.3% year-over-year
Pittsburgh metro, March 2017: +0.8% year-over-year

It's the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year job growth for Greater Pittsburgh. It's been more than six years since employment in Greater Philadelphia fell from the previous year's level.

Employment nationwide rose 1.7% in February 2017 and 1.5% in March.

Apropos of nothing, employment in that piddling Central Plains metropolis I hail from rose 2.7% in February from year-ago levels, and that metro has posted job gains of at least 20,000 year-over-year since May 2014. (There are a little more than one million jobs in the Greater Kansas City area, whose metro population is a little more than two million. Greater Kansas City and Greater Pittsburgh are now more or less on the same tier in the hierarchy of U.S. metropolitan areas.)

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Latest employment growth stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Philadelphia metro, Feb. 2017: +2.3% year-over-year
Pittsburgh metro, March 2017: +0.8% year-over-year

It's the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year job growth for Greater Pittsburgh. It's been more than six years since employment in Greater Philadelphia fell from the previous year's level.

Employment nationwide rose 1.7% in February 2017 and 1.5% in March.

Apropos of nothing, employment in that piddling Central Plains metropolis I hail from rose 2.7% in February from year-ago levels, and that metro has posted job gains of at least 20,000 year-over-year since May 2014. (There are a little more than one million jobs in the Greater Kansas City area, whose metro population is a little more than two million. Greater Kansas City and Greater Pittsburgh are now more or less on the same tier in the hierarchy of U.S. metropolitan areas.)

Do we have City vs City numbers ..... I don't care about Jersey, KOP or Wilmington which do nothing for the city .... I want to see city of Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh job growth.

EDIT: Philadelphia city 3.2 yoy increase ... City of Pittsburgh - Not Available, not even Allegheny County alone .... Very Nice for Philly....... Pittsburgh/Allegheny counties has to be pretty good to offset the Washington, Fayette, Armstrong Counties basketcases.

[RightonWalnut]

^^We may not know city of Pittsburgh alone. IDK why, but it seems BLS only releases by the county. We may know Allegheny County though in June/July. Allegheny County from 2015 to 2016 was 1.0% YOY increase. Not sure what 2016 to 2017 is though.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Do we have City vs City numbers ..... I don't care about Jersey, KOP or Wilmington which do nothing for the city .... I want to see city of Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh job growth.

EDIT: Philadelphia city 3.2 yoy increase ... City of Pittsburgh - Not Available, not even Allegheny County alone .... Very Nice for Philly....... Pittsburgh/Allegheny counties has to be pretty good to offset the Washington, Fayette, Armstrong Counties basketcases.

You can only get city employment numbers for those cities that are either independent cities in states that have them or coterminous with their counties.

Pittsburgh is neither. You should, however, be able to get separate figures for Allegheny County, which will have to do, sorry.

And metropolitan economies are intertwined, no matter what city boosters or suburbanites say. A fellow I know named Dick Voith, who was with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia at the time he wrote it but is now at a private research and consulting firm here in Philly called Econsult Solutions, wrote a paper sometime around 1999 that asked bluntly, "Do Suburbs Need Cities?"

The short answer: Yes. The slightly longer one: The economic performance of core cities and their suburbs were linked in a way: suburbs of cities with strong local economies did better than suburbs of cities with weak ones.

Now, I will allow that I don't think we have yet witnessed a metropolitan area that has a strengthening core city economy but a declining suburban one. Pittsburgh may prove an interesting case study in that regard alone. The question "How much better might the suburbs of Philadelphia be doing today if the city's economy hadn't still been anemic at best in the 1980s and 1990s?" is very much a live one.

[RightonWalnut]

Just kidding actually... Allegheny County grew 0.4% in jobs from March 2015 to March 2016 according to BLS. Therefore, I expect no more than 1.0% growth between March 2016 and March 2017. Philadelphia grew 1.5% between March 2015 and March 2016, and now 3.2% between March 2016 and March 2017.

[the topper]

Final conclusion: Philly trounces Pittsburgh

[jjv007]

The legend returns ^^