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10-16-2007, 08:36 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2007
2,736 posts, read 1,029,740 times
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There's been a lot of talk about the local economy. I've seen the words "stagnant" "terrible" and "sooooo bad" used to describe it. I am posting these things that have come out in the last year or so, maybe it will give some people a different perspective, one that I've always believed. Pittsburgh's economy isn't a powerhouse and certainly isn't outpacing the national average, but it's far from bad and is actually quite robust and still growing considering the complete transition we've had to make over the last couple decades.
Private Sector: Pittsburgh's economy / Myths vs. realities
This is from the Education Portal.
Quote:
Pittsburgh's Economy at a Glance
Pittsburgh is the center of the southeast Pennsylvania region, an area with a population of over 2 million. Once a major manufacturing hub, Pittsburgh suffered as factory production left starting in the 1970s for other states and countries. However, with a mix of creativity and flexibility, in the years since Pittsburgh has recreated itself as a vibrant center for health care, education and high-tech research. Now, with one of the country's lowest costs of living, the Pittsburgh region is a hot prospect for savvy young workers.
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This is from the post-gazette this past March.
Quote:
Given the sluggish gains in payroll employment, it is surprising -- and encouraging -- to find that the growth of personal income in the Pittsburgh area has matched or exceeded not only that reported in other manufacturing areas but in the nation as a whole. In 2005 -- the latest year for which data is available -- the per capita income in the Pittsburgh area was $36,000, slightly above the U.S. average of $35,000.
Even more impressive was the fact that in 2005, Pittsburgh ranked 54th in the nation as compared with a ranking of 60th in 1999. This performance compares very favorably with a sizable drop in the rankings of all the other major metropolitan areas in the Fourth Federal Reserve District. Cleveland, which ranked 42nd in the nation in 1999, fell to 61st place in 2005. And Columbus, Ohio, which placed 59th in the country in 1999, ranked 68th in 2005.
The statistics on unemployment tell a very similar story. Last year, the jobless rate in the Pittsburgh area averaged 4.8 percent, slightly above the 4.5 percent rate recorded in 1999 and very close to the national average of 4.6 percent. Elsewhere in the Fourth Federal Reserve District, however, the increase in the jobless rate between 1999 and 2006 generally ranged between one and two percentage points.
For instance, last year's unemployment rate in the Cleveland area was 4.7 percent, up from 2.7 percent in 1999. And in Lexington, Ky., the jobless rate climbed from a very low 2.1 percent in 1999 to 4.6 percent last year. To a degree, of course, Pittsburgh's low jobless rate can be attributed to the lack of growth in the area's labor force. But in addition, it can be argued that Pittsburgh now has a more stable -- and secure -- economic base than it did in prior years.
Turning for a moment to the housing market, it is clear that the national boom in home-building activity that has now collapsed bypassed the Pittsburgh area, which saw the trend of building permits issued for new residential construction remain essentially flat from 1999 through 2004. During the same time period, the number of building permits issued in the nation as a whole advanced nearly 25 percent.
The Pittsburgh market has not entirely escaped the slump in new residential construction activity as evidenced by the significant decline in the number of permits issued in both 2005 and 2006. But this downturn appears relatively insignificant when compared with the much larger declines expected in many areas of the country, including California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.
To sum: While the forthcoming Mellon/Bank of New York merger raises a number of unsettling questions, we continue to take the position that Pittsburgh has finally shaken off the negative effects of a steadily deteriorating industrial economy. While many other regions and metropolitan areas are still struggling to cope with the decline of their once dominant manufacturing industries, Pittsburgh has completed the painful transition from an industrial economy to one increasingly based on service-related activities, including health care, information technology and financial services.
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