Interesting Cleveland Fed study of educational attainment (Pittsburgh, Whitaker: university, moving)

[BrianTH]

We've seen some of this information before, but this is an interesting look at how educational attainment in Pittsburgh has been changing in relationship to the nation as well as to some other cities nearby:

Educational Attainment Trends in the Fourth District :: Stephan Whitaker :: Economic Trends :: 02.03.11 :: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Key snippet:

The Pittsburgh trend is remarkable. Among older Pittsburgh residents, education levels are below the national average, like those of Cincinnati and Cleveland. For residents younger than 40, however, degree attainment jumps up to the levels of Columbus. If the highly educated cohorts in Pittsburgh continue to phase in, the city will eventually have a workforce like a university town rather than a former industrial center.

Here is some related commentary from Burgh Diaspora (aka Jim Russell):

Burgh Diaspora - Economic Development From Geographic Mobility

Another snippet:

Town and gown Pittsburgh will start looking like the next Boston, dominating a region about the size of New England. The sphere of influence will stretch to Detroit and up against the gravity of Chicagoland.

Russell notes few people right now are thinking this will happen, but he argues the numbers really are incredible and eventually the business community will figure out this is a place to come for talent.

[h_curtis]

The more brains the better. We may even lose our "yinzer" lingo at some point. Well, probably not, but you never know.

[Gnutella]

So it looks like the working-age population increased slightly, which means that the non-working-age population had to have dropped significantly. Also, according to that nifty graph, it looks to me like college-educated people occupy a larger percentage of the total working-age population, which means that the non-college-educated population is dropping too. So what was that about how all the smart people leave Pittsburgh? Oh yeah...nothing. Looks to me like the "dumb" people are the ones leaving.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

So it looks like the working-age population increased slightly, which means that the non-working-age population had to have dropped significantly. Also, according to that nifty graph, it looks to me like college-educated people occupy a larger percentage of the total working-age population, which means that the non-college-educated population is dropping too. So what was that about how all the smart people leave Pittsburgh? Oh yeah...nothing. Looks to me like the "dumb" people are the ones leaving.

Correct on both counts: our out-sized older population is gradually dying or moving away while our younger population is slowly growing, and our net exchange of younger people with other regions is actually contributing to the increase in the percentage of highly-educated young people in Pittsburgh. But the biggest single source of that increase is our local natives of Pennsylvania becoming better educated.

So much of the conventional wisdom about "brain drain" in Pittsburgh is basically completely wrong. Of course some people from Pittsburgh do get their degrees and then move on, but all the countervailing forces are more than making up for those people.

[nuwaver88]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

The more brains the better. We may even lose our "yinzer" lingo at some point. Well, probably not, but you never know.

Of course, there are some people with thick Pittsburgh dialects and say yinz who have high IQs, but I respect your point.

[Blackbeauty212]

Still if the burgh post another population loss.....people will swear up and down that its a dying city and people are still running away from the city.....people just cant look deeper than that offical census number

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Still if the burgh post another population loss.....people will swear up and down that its a dying city and people are still running away from the city.....people just cant look deeper than that offical census number

True, but the good news is it obviously doesn't matter--Pittsburgh is moving along whether those folks want to admit it or not.