How Hispanics factored in.... (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: vacation home, construction, wages)

[Blackbeauty212]

Hispanic population shows modest climb in region

I agree with most of this story accept why Pittsburgh hasn't had a sharp increase in Hispanics....

Pittsburgh is not nor is near any Gateway cities to feed from....NYC, Miami, Chicago and LA and none are exactly close for Pittsburgh to feed off of in huge numbers, especially without easy connections and accessiblity... In terms of immigrant migration Pittsburgh is very Islanded which is why we need to be connect via HSR to the NEC.

Has nothing to do imo with Hispanics not being welcomed.....

[pman]

I figured as much, there were actually two drivers in Philly

There was a 44 percent increase in the number of Hispanics in the city (now 187,611) and a 42 percent increase in Asians (95,521)...
Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, said that not only has the Puerto Rican population increased, but Mexicans began arriving over the last 10 years and the Dominican population also has increased, with arrivals both from the island and from New York City.
Within the city are strong populations of Vietnamese and Cambodians, she said, and "within the last two or three years we're starting to see immigrants from Burma and Nepal."

This is not a misprint: Philadelphia's population is up | Philadelphia Daily News | 03/10/2011

and yes, I think distance (perceived and/or real) is hurting the burgh. high speed rail would help a lot but even without it, more flights to the carribean, and cheap buses to philly and ny would help. I do think, to some extent, the burgh's improving fortunes came too late to be much captured in the census.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Has nothing to do imo with Hispanics not being welcomed.....

Inland is one explanation, but I think it has more to do with lack of jobs because Pittsburghers are willing to do manual labor since Chicago is inland too:


Check out that green bullet in northwestern PA. What's up there that is causing it to be a fastest growing hispanic county? Is that Bradford? It's the middle of nowhere!

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Has nothing to do imo with Hispanics not being welcomed.....

Could not agree more, unless they don't cheer for the Stillers n'at.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Check out that green bullet in northwestern PA. What's up there that is causing it to be a fastest growing hispanic county? Is that Bradford? It's the middle of nowhere!

Good question. It's not right for Bradford, which is right on the NY line and more east. That dot is on Forest County, which really is in the middle of nowhere....

[vtPGH]

I think a huge reason that our region hasn't had a large Hispanic influx is due to the heavy union presence in the service and construction trades. With union wages and benefits, workers in these fields in Western Pennsylvania are far more likely to stick around, than in say North Carolina or Virginia, where wages are 2 to 3 times less, and benefits less than favorable.

[Gnutella]

Forest County is where the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary is located.

[ferrarisnowday]

Forest county has experienced huge population growth; apparently it is mostly vacation homes. Maybe there were a lot of construction and service jobs that attracted hispanic immigrants?

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Forest County is where the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary is located.

Also, that map is by percent. I dunno if they discarded silly examples. For ex, if there were 10 residents in the county, and 10 more moved in, then you have a 100% gain. But would that 100% gain be anything meaningful?

Would like to think that Pew would be smart enough to discard something like this, or the Pen for that matter, in the construction of the map. Dunno.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Forest county has experienced huge population growth; apparently it is mostly vacation homes. Maybe there were a lot of construction and service jobs that attracted hispanic immigrants?

Whew, maybe that would be a better explanation.