Local job market favorable? I beg to differ (Pittsburgh, Indiana: construction, salary)

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by deathegg88

Yep, that's about 2 cents worth!

There's a very good chance that the Honda or Hyundai that those "punk kids" are driving was made in America.

There's an equally good chance that the Chevy you love was made in either Canada or Mexico, or possibly even Korea! (gasp!)

It's no longer 1978; if you're there, you need to somehow build a time machine and get yourself to the 21st century, or at least the very late 20th century.

That guy did seem to have some good points, however they were lost somewhere in his anti-youth/anti-technology/anti-anywhere other than America rant. Also, as you mentioned the majority of Chevy's are made in Mexico while the majority of Hyundai's are made in Alabama. Funny how that works for the those folks still stuck in the past.

Sadly, the gist of modern society is that you either evolve or get left behind. I've seen plenty of older folks evolve and become accepting of the world around them, but I've seen many more refuse to evolve and therefore they've become relics of the past.

[Perryview22]

Originally Posted by RedBall

To the OP: Your entire post is anecdotal. While I do not question the truthfulness of your account, your experience, and your friends experiences, may or may not be typical. That is the problem with anecdotal evidence. Statistical evidence, which is what people are citing when describing the Pittsburgh job market as relatively good, can, however, determine typicality.

Of course then we're dealing in generalities, they mean nothing to individuals whom experience a result which may be atypical to general statistical analysis.

You sound like you know something about statistics as an area of study. My account is certainly informal and anecdotal, however, it is not a "result", per-se.

I also theorize that the prevalence of management and analyst positions might also be an indicator of the business climate overall. More businesses may be looking to tighten their belts, looking to realize a greater margin of profitability from the same or decreased revenues. There have been a wealth of management tools that have been developed in recent years to allow mgt to apply a finer granularity to analysis of factors such as contingent workforce, expense mgt, supply chain mgt, claim and deduction mgt, etc. I am thinking that business are robbing the nests of other businesses and industries to find high level people who have a command of those software tools or those who have the fundmental knowledge and experience to utilize them to maximum advantage. Again, just a supposition.

[Craziaskowboi]

The majority of Chevrolets are NOT made in Mexico. Some are, yes, but they're a minority.

Were you aware that Toyota and Honda sell vehicles here that were built in Canada?

[jimmyev]

Here's an anecdotal experience: two years and we still can't find a chem or bio major with two years experience (or a masters), starting salary $50K, jumping to $80K the third year. For a government job with lots of leave. In the Eastern part of the state they get a bunch of resumes with each announcement. We get three. And none of them are willing to work in Pittsburgh.

[ditchdigger]

I just wanted to address this one point:

I also think some jobs are not coming back for a long time because businesses have become more efficient , in part because they have been able to redirect their negative and dyfunctional energies after purging people they dislike using the ecomony as an exuse.

Maybe they (businesses), disliked those people because they were the source of the negativity, dysfunction, and inefficiency?

You shouldn't need the economy as an excuse to purge those people...

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

Here's an anecdotal experience: two years and we still can't find a chem or bio major with two years experience (or a masters), starting salary $50K, jumping to $80K the third year. For a government job with lots of leave. In the Eastern part of the state they get a bunch of resumes with each announcement. We get three. And none of them are willing to work in Pittsburgh.

My company put out an ad for a Pharmacy Manager on Monster, Careerlink, etc. and didn't get a single response. Not one. It required a bit of a specific skill set, but still...you'd think SOMEONE would respond in this job market.

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

My company put out an ad for a Pharmacy Manager on Monster, Careerlink, etc. and didn't get a single response. Not one. It required a bit of a specific skill set, but still...you'd think SOMEONE would respond in this job market.

Especially with Pitt and CMU right here. It's puzzling. Like I said in a previous thread, the only place in the country we have similar problems finding people is Houston. And that's because very few people want to live there.

[Craziaskowboi]

This isn't the first time that I've heard employers in the Pittsburgh area mention how hard it is to find qualified job applicants. Last year, Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon collaborated on a job fair because local employers had over 30,000 openings with an average salary of over $40K. The employers involved said that they had to take their job search nationally because of the dearth of qualified applicants locally -- and basically found out that nobody from elsewhere wanted to move to Pittsburgh for work. Now what was that about Pittsburghers being "narrow-minded"? As far as I'm concerned, you'd have to be extremely narrow-minded to turn down a job during a poor economy simply because it isn't located where you want it to be. There's something about beggars, and how they can't be choosers. Those people can go ahead and starve; it's only natural selection at work.

[sr1234]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Last year, Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon collaborated on a job fair because local employers had over 30,000 openings with an average salary of over $40K.

I am sorry, but that is a completely unbelievable statement. 30,000 job openings paying over $40k in the Pittsburgh area? No way.

[Johnland]

The OP's mention about the accounting job market is somewhat correct. I've looking, not terribly in depth, but looking, at positions in financial reporting or accounting. Again, not based on a thorough search, there doesn't seem to be much beyod the entry level account clerk type openings.

I've been working in Tampa in accounting/financial reporting for the past ten years. I want to relocate back to Pittsbugh in 2011 and will start job searching in earnest this summer. I actually have two degrees - economics and accounting. My job experience has been in actual operational accounting and more recently on the regulatory reporting side for insurance. My ideal employer would be a large insurer that handles their statutory reporting out of Pittsburgh.