Several Indicators Reveal Pittsburgh Falling Behind Economically (Washington, Butler: sales, 2015)

[corpgypsy]

Originally Posted by gladhands

It's about the MSA. I honestly couldn't care less what happens in five of the seven counties in the Pittsburgh MSA.

I'd imagine businesses, corporations and employers care. Probably, city and county planners, developers and financial venture groups, as well.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by corpgypsy

I'd imagine businesses, corporations and employers care. Probably, city and county planners, developers and financial venture groups, as well.

I'd that half of them don't care. Venture groups might look at MSA, but I can't imagine developers you looking to build in Pittsburgh care about unemployment statistics two counties over. I'd be surprised if the Allegheny County commissioner really cares what happens in Armstrong County.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by gladhands

I'd be surprised if the Allegheny County commissioner really cares what happens in Armstrong County.

There have not been County commissioners since 2000.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by gladhands

It's about the MSA. I honestly couldn't care less what happens in five of the seven counties in the Pittsburgh MSA.

Unfortunately most people's jobs are effected by the health of the MSA as a whole in some part; it's s privileged few who are employed in sectors that do not have to worry about local economic conditions

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by UKyank

Unfortunately most people's jobs are effected by the health of the MSA as a whole in some part; it's s privileged few who are employed in sectors that do not have to worry about local economic conditions

I don't believe that to be true. I don't believe you PMC employees in the city's jobs are impacted by the fates of the outlying counties. The same can be said for employees of Heinz, PNC, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, or The City of Pittsburgh. Giant Eagle isn't going to let cashiers at city stores go because of slowdowns in the Marsalis Shale. No, that most people's jobs are impacted by the MSA. The MSA is an artificially inflated metric and is not indicative of the economic health of Pittsburgh.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by gladhands

I don't believe you PMC employees in the city's jobs are impacted by the fates of the outlying counties.

So an economic slowdown happens. Ripple effect is that people lose their jobs, or move down to part-time hours and lose their benefits. So now people don't have insurance to go see their doctor. You really don't see how this wouldn't affect UPMC employees?

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

So an economic slowdown happens. Ripple effect is that people lose their jobs, or move down to part-time hours and lose their benefits. So now people don't have insurance to go see their doctor. You really don't see how this wouldn't affect UPMC employees?

Healthcare is as recession proof and industry as we have. Unlike some other states, Pennsylvania expanded Medicaid eligibility under the affordable care act, some people who lose their jobs will still have medical insurance. But that's not my point. My point is the most workers in the city are not impacted by economic conditions in the outlying counties.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

When is construction supposed to get started on the cracker plant? Early next year?

it was said to start mid to late 2017. 6000+ construction jobs for at least 5 years and possibly up to 10 years for most of those jobs.

after full completion there will be about 600 permanent employees.

[Goinback2011]

Pittsburgh's economy is very vulnerable to downturns in federal government spending. The entire health care, insurance and education sectors will be affected at some point.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

Pittsburgh's economy is very vulnerable to downturns in federal government spending. The entire health care, insurance and education sectors will be affected at some point.

It's going to be even more vulnerable to forces in the global energy market as well, which actually explains the vast majority of the stall in the last couple of years, though many refuse to acknowledge it. It's not an excuse either; it's a fact. The Kansas City Fed had this to say about the effects of the global energy market crash on the Rocky Mountain states:

Originally Posted by Kansas City Fed

Although the effects of a low energy price environment are largest in the energy sector itself, there frequently are spillover effects on related industries or the economy as a whole. Employment in the transportation sector has declined over the past year in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming (Chart 3). The transportation sector is closely tied to the energy sector, providing many logistical services such as moving commodities by truck or train. In fact, coal shipments were about 39 percent of total tonnage moved by rail in 2014.iv Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming also have experienced declines in wholesale trade employment, which may be tied to the energy sector. Many of the region’s manufacturing firms make goods directly for the energy sector, and therefore manufacturing employment in New Mexico and Wyoming has declined over the past year in part due to weakness in the energy sector. With almost one in 10 workers employed in the energy sector in mid-2014, Wyoming has seen the largest spillover effects from the recent downturn in energy. In addition to employment declines in energy, transportation, manufacturing and wholesale trade over the past year, employment has fallen in construction, financial services, information, leisure and state government. In contrast, most industries continued to expand in Colorado despite the slowdown in the energy sector.

Wyoming is hurting badly, and so are Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia. With Pittsburgh being ground zero for the Marcellus and Utica Shales, and western Pennsylvania having plenty of coal in the ground, the region is beholden to the same energy market forces as those states are. Even Texas is now growing jobs at less than 2% year over year, which just goes to show you what a drag the energy market has become on the Texas economy. Houston has stalled just like Pittsburgh has, and the metropolitan areas in the Permian Basin are in a free fall.

Notice how the Kansas City Fed specifically mentioned Manufacturing and Trade, Transportation and Utilities as job sectors directly impacted by the energy market crash in the Rocky Mountain states. That's two of the four sectors cited as weak in Pittsburgh relative to the United States at large. The other two are Information and Government, the latter of which has nothing to do with the private sector. As for information, here's how it's defined by the NAICS:

Originally Posted by North American Industry Classification System

The Information sector comprises establishments engaged in the following processes: (a) producing and distributing information and cultural products, (b) providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and (c) processing data.

The main components of this sector are the publishing industries, including software publishing, and both traditional publishing and publishing exclusively on the Internet; the motion picture and sound recording industries; the broadcasting industries, including traditional broadcasting and those broadcasting exclusively over the Internet; the telecommunications industries; Web search portals, data processing industries, and the information services industries.

The Information sector groups three types of establishments: (1) those engaged in producing and distributing information and cultural products; (2) those that provide the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications; and (3) those that process data.

Basically, media and telecommunications jobs.

In summary, of the four job sectors in which Pittsburgh is losing jobs while the United States is gaining them, two are directly tied to the global energy market, and one has nothing to do with the private sector. Shame on Pittsburgh for shedding lots of media and telecommunications jobs, though, I guess.