Pgh Jobs- Too may Highly Qualified,not enough jobs (Pittsburgh: real estate, health insurance)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Well, I think it's safe to say that only the white collar people were getting transfers. Didn't know any lathe operators growing up that worked in Wilmerding for Westinghouse getting sent to Idaho. Although I did know a guy that worked for US Steel getting transferred from Monroeville to Universal.

Same applies today. Most blue collar workers aren't getting transferred today. They're expendable and easily replaced. They have to relocate themselves, like the steel workers did. There are industry exceptions, like oil rig workers, but those exceptions applied 50 years ago too.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I think you're wrong, in large part because a huge proportion of the younger professional (under 35, with graduate degrees) cadre in Pittsburgh are people who relocated here for work. If the local job market for professionals was so bad, you wouldn't expect to see so many younger people finding positions here.

If anything, I'd say that Pittsburgh's problem is there are not enough jobs for the non-highly qualified. This is one of the notable reasons we don't have many low-wage immigrants, for example - jobs are so thin on the ground that poor native-born whites and blacks take positions which elsewhere would be disproportionately staffed by recent Asian and Latino migrants. Indeed, virtually everyone who moves here (discounting perhaps people from the small towns outside of Pittsburgh who move here to be "in the big city") seems to be a middle-to-upper-middle class professional.

Agree... I think the problem is that some people have a different idea of highly educated than many higher-end Pittsburgh companies. Many high paying positions require a degree from a top flight department plus stellar internships. Here, that means Pitt, PSU or CM (perhaps WVU for some majors). Some companies (think software) won't even hire right out of school, you need the above plus a few years at a smaller company. The other option is to have years of experience with a spectacular work history. But for those of you just getting started who want to work somewhere high end, the university on your degree matters a great deal.

[Copanut]

If I had to do it all over again: Central Catholic, Pitt or Duquesne undergrad, Pitt or Duquesne for Masters or CMU. It's like the Mafia, only they make more money and have a great retirement.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Copanut

If I had to do it all over again: Central Catholic, Pitt or Duquesne undergrad, Pitt or Duquesne for Masters or CMU. It's like the Mafia, only they make more money and have a great retirement.

City Paper did a cover story a few years ago about how an undergraduate degree from Duquesne was tantamount to guaranteed unemployment, at least in the field you'd studied for.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by jay5835

City Paper did a cover story a few years ago about how an undergraduate degree from Duquesne was tantamount to guaranteed unemployment, at least in the field you'd studied for.

Ok, but I know a TON of Duquesne grads that are doing very well.

[Clint.]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I think you're wrong, in large part because a huge proportion of the younger professional (under 35, with graduate degrees) cadre in Pittsburgh are people who relocated here for work. If the local job market for professionals was so bad, you wouldn't expect to see so many younger people finding positions here.

If anything, I'd say that Pittsburgh's problem is there are not enough jobs for the non-highly qualified. This is one of the notable reasons we don't have many low-wage immigrants, for example - jobs are so thin on the ground that poor native-born whites and blacks take positions which elsewhere would be disproportionately staffed by recent Asian and Latino migrants. Indeed, virtually everyone who moves here (discounting perhaps people from the small towns outside of Pittsburgh who move here to be "in the big city") seems to be a middle-to-upper-middle class professional.

Yeah, I agree, too. Plus, as Hopes pointed out, underemployment due to, at least partially, a change in general business structure isn't unique to Pittsburgh. For that matter, the word "professional" and phrase "highly educated" are practically abuse victims...there's no telling what some people mean when saying those sorts of things, and often many alleged competencies are overvalued or more widely distributed than people like to admit.

The problems of the low wage end of the spectrum is where the concern should be. The long-term economic implications are bigger if we have large disruptions in the low and lower-middle to middle income employment sectors than if some no-nothing MBA or self-styled 'professional' communications major (or whatever) is unable to earn the high wages he thinks he deserves.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Ok, but I know a TON of Duquesne grads that are doing very well.

That's good. One of the guys the article was about was a standup comedian. I didn't know that was a major at Duquesne.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Copanut

If I had to do it all over again: Central Catholic, Pitt or Duquesne undergrad, Pitt or Duquesne for Masters or CMU. It's like the Mafia, only they make more money and have a great retirement.

I thought you were a proud Grove City grad.

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Pittsburgh tech salaries fastest growing in the nation - Pittsburgh Business Times

To be fair a lot of that increase is just us catching up with the rest of the county in salaries but it's nice to see. It's getting harder and harder to find tech professionals to hire here in Pittsburgh, not surprised that's pushing pay upward.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by GeneW

To be fair a lot of that increase is just us catching up with the rest of the county in salaries but it's nice to see. It's getting harder and harder to find tech professionals to hire here in Pittsburgh, not surprised that's pushing pay upward.

That is what I thought too.