LESS than anemic job growth for region, #84/90 (Pittsburgh, Washington: apartments, lease)

[Joe_P]

The very odd demographic situation will haunt the metro for many years. That said, the number seems odd. Look at similarly struggling peer cities.. weird.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by erieguy

This stat has been pretty obvious, but even with the numbers being plain as day, they will be defended.

Population growth will never improve without a reason to come to the area. Lack of significantly paying jobs and a lack of desirability isn’t going to draw people.

And when they get high paying jobs like oil and gas they don’t want them. That list speaks Volumes as to where the jobs are and where people are moving. 19 of the top 20 cities are west or south. Des Moine, Iowa is 20. Everybody is moving south or west for work.

Originally Posted by Joe_P

The very odd demographic situation will haunt the metro for many years. That said, the number seems odd. Look at similarly struggling peer cities.. weird.

What is Odd about it?

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Joe_P

The very odd demographic situation will haunt the metro for many years. That said, the number seems odd. Look at similarly struggling peer cities.. weird.

The numbers don’t lie. It’s not like other areas don’t have areas that can bring numbers down.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by Joe_P

The very odd demographic situation will haunt the metro for many years. That said, the number seems odd. Look at similarly struggling peer cities.. weird.

If the local economy was better it would be a non issue. They can’t attract very many outsiders because of the low pay and lack of opportunity.

[tstone]

I don't think you can have job growth when so much of the population is so obviously whacked out on very strong opiates. Too much of this region is like stepping into the twilight zone, and nobody's mind, body or soul can function properly on this poison in 2019's economy. Cure that illness first- then there may be a chance.

Originally Posted by pittsburghaccuweather

And when they get high paying jobs like oil and gas they don’t want them.

Killing the goose that lays the golden egg... So +800 for the whole Pittsburgh metro? Take away that one job in Beaver and what does that number turn into? Probably -2000... making it last place. And to the person who says blue collar is going negative-- that job is a major blue collar addition. And I know there are other jobs that have sprung up here due to the Marcellus formation. So now the question is- truly how prominent is tech here?

[Moby Hick]

EQT just laid off 1/4 of its local workforce. That's 250 jobs from just one employer. I think tech is doing just fine.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by tstone

I don't think you can have job growth when so much of the population is so obviously whacked out on very strong opiates. Too much of this region is like stepping into the twilight zone, and nobody's mind, body or soul can function properly on this poison in 2019's economy. Cure that illness first- then there may be a chance.
Killing the goose that lays the golden egg... So +800 for the whole Pittsburgh metro? Take away that one job in Beaver and what does that number turn into? Probably -2000... making it last place. And to the person who says blue collar is going negative-- that job is a major blue collar addition. And I know there are other jobs that have sprung up here due to the Marcellus formation. So now the question is- truly how prominent is tech here?

What’s interesting is the Cleveland metro and Pittsburgh metros are nearly identical in economic makeup percentages of employment sectors. Cleveland metro added 12,000, while Pittsburgh added 800. Something is wrong for sure. Both are heavy Ed’s and meds. High tech represents more than 1 but less than 2 percent in both metros. Cleveland is 4 percent more manufacturing than Pittsburgh. In fact all three large Ohio cities had much better growth over Pittsburgh the same time period. Cincinnati and Columbus are more similar economically. High tech job growth in Pittsburgh is greatly over exaggerated. Ed’s, Meds, retail/ hospitality and financial are the meat of the Pittsburgh economy.

The natural gas drilling is most likely the reason for the growth spike. Those 800 new jobs are probably concentrated west near the airport and along the I-79 corridor. If it wasn’t for that part of the region things would be really bad.

Pittsburgh is too far west to have an impact from the eastern cities. And it is too Far East to have an impact from manufacturing growth in the Midwest or Chicagoland.. It’s isolated. Much like the rest of the Appalachia which serves as a natural barrier between east and Midwest. Pittsburgh is the largest Appalachian city followed by Birmingham Alabama, which is about 215K city size. The rest of the towns are like big cities in West Virginia which are small. And they are small because of the terrain and isolation from bigger cities.

[Mtl-Cns]

Is there anyway to see this data from a smaller perspective (like by county or city) instead of the entire statistical area?

[Charley Barker]

There is this from the BLS (mid-Atlantic region):
https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atla...h_20190814.htm
It is the unemployment rate, not exactly apples to apples, but a more granular view of the overall situation. The most recent period (June 2019) shows Butler (3.6) on the low end and Fayette (5.3) on the high end. If you take out the high and the low, the remaining counties are all between 3.9 (Allegheny) and 4.3. A pretty narrow range.

[Mtl-Cns]

Originally Posted by Charley Barker

There is this from the BLS (mid-Atlantic region):
https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atla...h_20190814.htm
It is the unemployment rate, not exactly apples to apples, but a more granular view of the overall situation. The most recent period (June 2019) shows Butler (3.6) on the low end and Fayette (5.3) on the high end. If you take out the high and the low, the remaining counties are all between 3.9 (Allegheny) and 4.3. A pretty narrow range.

Sorry for not being more specific. I'm more interested in the 800 net jobs than the unemployment rate. It's a net gain that comes at the expense of larger gains and larger loses. Basically curious as to whether Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are making up for larger loses in outlying counties by adding more jobs, or whether its more evenly spread out. Either way the +800 is not great, I'm just curious as to what it's comprised of.