WARNING: Opening this topic will blow your mind (Pittsburgh: loan, home)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

No. What the numbers don't say is that the growth in the city is from local migration. The population is moving to mainly Butler, Washington, and Allegheny counties from the surrounding areas.

Stop spreading disinformation. Your post doesn't even answer NJ Brazen's question. He didn't ask about population growth so population movement is irrelevant. He asked if Pittsburgh has enough employment available for people with higher degrees. The answer is YES. People with higher degrees has the lowest unemployment rate in the region.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...74035653,d.b2U

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

No. What the numbers don't say is that the growth in the city is from local migration. The population is moving to mainly Butler, Washington, and Allegheny counties from the surrounding areas.

Except for the 24,338 people who moved to Allegheny County from counties outside of Pennsylvania in 2011, that is. And before you ask about outmigration to counties outside of Pennsylvania, the total is 23,661, which means that Allegheny County had a net increase of 677 people from outside of Pennsylvania in 2011, which is the most recent year that migration data is available.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Stop spreading disinformation. Your post doesn't even answer NJ Brazen's question. He didn't ask about population growth so population movement is irrelevant. He asked if Pittsburgh has enough employment available for people with higher degrees. The answer is YES. People with higher degrees has the lowest unemployment rate in the region.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...74035653,d.b2U

How is Westinghouse disinformation? They moved from one county (Westmoreland) to another (Butler) in the Pittsburgh region. Regional population movement is terribly important if that is what is fueling construction and job growth (Cranberry/Wexford).

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/no...s/201206140346

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

I was waiting to see if some one will write this. It only took like 5 or posts, that is quick

But really, it is probably none of my business, but how true is this statement?

Having a highly educated workforce may seem nice, yet, they still need the right jobs. Is Pittsburgh's economy booming with high paying jobs, that require high levels of schooling?

I work in the tech field (which is the one of the hottest fields in the city currently). It's normal to get $20 - $30k less a year than the averages posted on Glassdoor or elsewhere. The reason for this is there is a huge "permatemp" and H1-B culture amongst employers here. The real reason there has been a tech explosion here is because you can pay people almost half of what you do on the coasts.

The only reason I have a job at my current company is because they're paying me tens of thousands less than what I would have to get where their headquarters are. So in my experience (and every time the topic appears on other message boards) people with advanced degrees are getting paid a lot less here.

So why has the average income per capita gone up in some graphs? Simply because venture capitalists are throwing money at startups and a select few are skewing the averages by being infused with cash. The startup scene has grown dramatically since 2009, but that doesn't mean that the underlings are getting paid more.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I work in the tech field (which is the one of the hottest fields in the city currently). It's normal to get $20 - $30k less a year than the averages posted on Glassdoor or elsewhere. The reason for this is there is a huge "permatemp" and H1-B culture amongst employers here. The real reason there has been a tech explosion here is because you can pay people almost half of what you do on the coasts.

Because a few very high salaries can pull up the average while leaving the median untouched, it's normal for more than half of the people to earn less than the average. Still, salaries are lower for educated workers here. It's nothing close to half of what you can get on the coasts in my field, but it is quite a bit lower.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Because a few very high salaries can pull up the average while leaving the median untouched, it's normal for more than half of the people to earn less than the average. Still, salaries are lower for educated workers here. It's nothing close to half of what you can get on the coasts in my field, but it is quite a bit lower.

And it is sooooo cheap to live in San Fran or Boston, isn't it?

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by doo dah

And it is sooooo cheap to live in San Fran or Boston, isn't it?

I do work for people in both those cities, I assume because they can't find anybody with my skills for what they want to pay.

[ProFiction]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

How is Westinghouse disinformation? They moved from one county (Westmoreland) to another (Butler) in the Pittsburgh region. Regional population movement is terribly important if that is what is fueling construction and job growth (Cranberry/Wexford).

Westinghouse's move to Cranberry is complete - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Westinghouse moved from Allegheny County, for the record.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I work in the tech field (which is the one of the hottest fields in the city currently). It's normal to get $20 - $30k less a year than the averages posted on Glassdoor or elsewhere. The reason for this is there is a huge "permatemp" and H1-B culture amongst employers here. The real reason there has been a tech explosion here is because you can pay people almost half of what you do on the coasts.

The only reason I have a job at my current company is because they're paying me tens of thousands less than what I would have to get where their headquarters are. So in my experience (and every time the topic appears on other message boards) people with advanced degrees are getting paid a lot less here.

So why has the average income per capita gone up in some graphs? Simply because venture capitalists are throwing money at startups and a select few are skewing the averages by being infused with cash. The startup scene has grown dramatically since 2009, but that doesn't mean that the underlings are getting paid more.

So it's not like paying people less for a job because they live in a low cost of living area is anything unique to Pittsburgh. It's a time honored practice worldwide. Hence it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is true to some a large extent. In my old job I was paid maybe ~30K less than someone at an equivalent lab in Berkeley. I was down with that. I saved almost that much not paying CA taxes

I think you might find that there's actually more than a 'select few' in startups getting paid pretty good salaries in the hi-tech area though. I have no idea if Google pay less here than in San Jose or New York, but I know they pay well in real terms. So do IBM (a big chunk of the Watson team is here, and it's expanding), and I have a few buddies in large company R&D labs who aren't starving. This is a growth area for Pittsburgh, and lets hope it continues so everyone will benefit.

Maybe you could go work for one of these 'elite' startups?

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by gortonator

So it's not like paying people less for a job because they live in a low cost of living area is anything unique to Pittsburgh. It's a time honored practice worldwide. Hence it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is true to some a large extent. In my old job I was paid maybe ~30K less than someone at an equivalent lab in Berkeley. I was down with that. I saved almost that much not paying CA taxes

I think you might find that there's actually more than a 'select few' in startups getting paid pretty good salaries in the hi-tech area though. I have no idea if Google pay less here than in San Jose or New York, but I know they pay well in real terms. So do IBM (a big chunk of the Watson team is here, and it's expanding), and I have a few buddies in large company R&D labs who aren't starving. This is a growth area for Pittsburgh, and lets hope it continues so everyone will benefit.

Maybe you could go work for one of these 'elite' startups?

Of course people get paid less because they live in a low cost of living area, but that "oh so cheap" gap for Pittsburgh has been rapidly closing while wages remain stagnant.

You may have misunderstood what I meant in regards to startups. Most startups are still paying people under national salaries, it's the owners and top level management who are getting big bucks thanks to being flush with cash via venture capitalists.

I think a big part of the fact that big salaries haven't "trickled down" to the underlings yet is because Pittsburgh startups as a whole have been met with lukewarm success overall. I'm hoping that changes because I'm in the middle of the startup world in various ways right now.