Another liveability ranking. (Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Beaver: sale, to rent, mortgage)

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

I have had the exact opposite experience. Where I work, there are tons of people who have been there 15, 20, 25 years and they all make good money. I am about 30 days out from my 10 year anniversary with my company. This is only the second company I have worked for since graduating in 2003. In those 10 years I have had six different positions across various parts of the company and tripled my salary. Out of my core group of friends, 75% of us have had somewhat of the same experience, each working for companies for 7+ years. Of the 25% that haven’t, they have job jumped, didn’t put in the time at any one company, and chased pay raises. As we approach our mid to late 30s, their behavior in their early careers is starting to show as now they can’t seem to get a leg up at any company.

Yes this is my experience, but it is no less valid than your experience.

good job, Yinz! also, it does depend on what field someone is in to, and what credentials they've worked for IN that field. LEED certification comes to mind as an example. you dont have to be an architect to study for and test for it (as far as i know). you can be a real estate agent and get that.

same for building trades - someone can get certified in refrigerant recovery, etc.

i do not dispute this thing about pgh being the land of low wages....but you have to stand out from the rest to be worthy of higher wages in this local economy.

[wanderlust76]

Technically the sweet spot cities on the list are Colorado Springs and Mesa which have a really good Economy ranking and Affordability ranking both. Pittsburgh has a good ranking under Economy but ranks pretty mediocre on the Affordability list. Being #10 and #31 respectively. Education/Health and Quality of Life are really subjective and can be quantified in numerous ways.

[sealie]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

I also don't get Seattle's ranking of #1 for the economy. Colorado has the lowest UE rate in the country, and Denver's rate was 2.3% in May (the most recent stat I could find). Seattle's is 3.4% as of June.
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.co_denver_msa.htm
Washington unemployment rate holds steady at 4.5 percent | The Seattle Times

They explain their methodology. There is more to the category than employment rate.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

good job, Yinz! also, it does depend on what field someone is in to, and what credentials they've worked for IN that field. LEED certification comes to mind as an example. you dont have to be an architect to study for and test for it (as far as i know). you can be a real estate agent and get that.

same for building trades - someone can get certified in refrigerant recovery, etc.

i do not dispute this thing about pgh being the land of low wages....but you have to stand out from the rest to be worthy of higher wages in this local economy.

I just get frustrated when people say you cant get ahead here, or cant without knowing someone. It does suck for some people and I understand that, but the entire region is not a wasteland of underemployed people mired in horrible jobs.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by sealie

They explain their methodology. There is more to the category than employment rate.

I read that (before). I still think they fudged it a bit. However, it's just another list.

[okaydorothy]

Moderator cut: orphaned

In our experience., and its just our experience, we moved here as a late 40's couple with two tweens. The kids settled here very quick and love it. As adults our experience has been very different. I got a job within 2 weeks of looking and got that job thru an agency. Then that firm was taken over by another firm and the firm went much more corporate which I feared. So after 2 years, a neighbor told me of a position where she worked and I was lucky enough to get that position. I did have to go down in salary but I didn't mind as it was closer to home and no parking. I was let go suddenly at the beginning of the year after 2.5 years there. No excuse, just we have to part ways. It was a total shock.

My husband, now he struggled to get a job. He applied to many places including a branch of where he used to work for in NY. Nothing local and eventually he got a position with them in Youngstown and commuted daily. That branch was closed down after 10 months, and he went back to school. He got a job after school, but it was on call and there was no work from Jan to March. So we were back to a single income again. Finally he got a position near our weekend home in the Poconos and we have been living separately since March 2016. Is it the perfect situation ; heck no. He is willing to go anywhere for work and he will do anything. But not having connections here in Pittsburgh really killed him.
Try living on $40K a year with two kids, and a mortgage ; it is very difficult. We have not had a vacation in 5 years. Now our house is for sale so we can pay off the debt we had to accumulate just to live. And I am not saying we have expensive taste ; absolutely not.

So the point is ; if you are young and or go to college here, you have the connections and life will be decent. If you are older, then it is more difficult.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

In our experience., and its just our experience, we moved here as a late 40's couple with two tweens. The kids settled here very quick and love it. As adults our experience has been very different. I got a job within 2 weeks of looking and got that job thru an agency. Then that firm was taken over by another firm and the firm went much more corporate which I feared. So after 2 years, a neighbor told me of a position where she worked and I was lucky enough to get that position. I did have to go down in salary but I didn't mind as it was closer to home and no parking. I was let go suddenly at the beginning of the year after 2.5 years there. No excuse, just we have to part ways. It was a total shock.

My husband, now he struggled to get a job. He applied to many places including a branch of where he used to work for in NY. Nothing local and eventually he got a position with them in Youngstown and commuted daily. That branch was closed down after 10 months, and he went back to school. He got a job after school, but it was on call and there was no work from Jan to March. So we were back to a single income again. Finally he got a position near our weekend home in the Poconos and we have been living separately since March 2016. Is it the perfect situation ; heck no. He is willing to go anywhere for work and he will do anything. But not having connections here in Pittsburgh really killed him.
Try living on $40K a year with two kids, and a mortgage ; it is very difficult. We have not had a vacation in 5 years. Now our house is for sale so we can pay off the debt we had to accumulate just to live. And I am not saying we have expensive taste ; absolutely not.

So the point is ; if you are young and or go to college here, you have the connections and life will be decent. If you are older, then it is more difficult.

You bought a brand new house in a new development under these circumstances. Was that a good choice? Honest question.

[Ruger357]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

In our experience., and its just our experience, we moved here as a late 40's couple with two tweens. The kids settled here very quick and love it. As adults our experience has been very different. I got a job within 2 weeks of looking and got that job thru an agency. Then that firm was taken over by another firm and the firm went much more corporate which I feared. So after 2 years, a neighbor told me of a position where she worked and I was lucky enough to get that position. I did have to go down in salary but I didn't mind as it was closer to home and no parking. I was let go suddenly at the beginning of the year after 2.5 years there. No excuse, just we have to part ways. It was a total shock.

My husband, now he struggled to get a job. He applied to many places including a branch of where he used to work for in NY. Nothing local and eventually he got a position with them in Youngstown and commuted daily. That branch was closed down after 10 months, and he went back to school. He got a job after school, but it was on call and there was no work from Jan to March. So we were back to a single income again. Finally he got a position near our weekend home in the Poconos and we have been living separately since March 2016. Is it the perfect situation ; heck no. He is willing to go anywhere for work and he will do anything. But not having connections here in Pittsburgh really killed him.
Try living on $40K a year with two kids, and a mortgage ; it is very difficult. We have not had a vacation in 5 years. Now our house is for sale so we can pay off the debt we had to accumulate just to live. And I am not saying we have expensive taste ; absolutely not.

So the point is ; if you are young and or go to college here, you have the connections and life will be decent. If you are older, then it is more difficult.

This hits a sore spot with others. You and I are the villains because we don't agree. Our experiences have led to this conclusion. Another poster mentioned a salary under 35K. That isn't going to cut the mustard.

I think there are good paying jobs in Pittsburgh, but in very limited quantity only geared at specific skill sets. If you fall within that skill set congrats to you. Me, my wife, others that I know and yourself Ms. Dorothy do not belong to that group. There are plenty of jobs for everyone else but they do not pay a respectable wage nor is it competitive with peer cities or some smaller ones. My wife has 9 cousins all in their mid 30s. Three of them still live in Pittsburgh. Two still live at home. The third rents and bounces from job to job. None of them have kids. The ones that moved away have kids and live in nice homes with the families they started. I have one friend left in Pittsburgh. Nine others moved away. They all moved for better jobs and higher wages.

For all of the best articles and good PR Pittsburgh receives it should be the growth Mecca of the United States. It isn't because it is just a list. The hardest part is getting a good job in Pittsburgh. If you are in that limited skill set you take these articles as true. That's why it doesn't grow. If Pittsburgh was producing good jobs and growth opportunity coupled with its PR push it would grow. Actually it wouldn't need the PR it gets. The good jobs and wages would attract people there regardless of the bests lists

[PghYinzer]

Perhaps this is not the thread for it but what are these skill sets that you feel people need, or perhaps we should look at the skill sets the people have that are struggling. As I try to figure out what fields my peers who are doing well in Pgh work in, it seems like a broad spectrum with various levels of education. Perhaps I am just an oddity that I find myself in a peer group that is all quite successful, however we have been friends since before any of us were successful so it's not like we changed groups as our careers grew.


Either way, I find Pgh to be very livable, and really cant think of another place I would consider living at this point in my life. Maybe Philly or Boston, but that is about it. However, maybe I am an outlier in this town or at least on these boards. If that is the case, then who are all of these people I see out there participating in the activities I participate in.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

I just get frustrated when people say you cant get ahead here, or cant without knowing someone. It does suck for some people and I understand that, but the entire region is not a wasteland of underemployed people mired in horrible jobs.

My brother has worked for the same company for 10 years and was just given a $10,000 raise in April. He and his family are comfortably middle-class, and so is my best friend from elementary and middle school. Furthermore, my friends from high school are all comfortably upper-middle-class, and when I've asked them about other people we knew, there were only five who left: two who made it on Broadway, one who made it in the NFL, one who married into the military, and one who works for the state government in Harrisburg. The rest of them are still in the Pittsburgh area, and none of them are living from paycheck to paycheck either. In fact, the only one who doesn't have a job chose to be a stay-at-home mother. Bottom line, if Pittsburgh has a moribund economy, then nobody ever bothered to tell my brother or any of my childhood friends.