Why is Pittsburgh's job growth so low? (Lincoln, Penn: homes, unemployment rate)

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by copanut

the people are just too rude, no one wants to hire them.

lol

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Copanut

The people are just too rude, no one wants to hire them.

and so evident in the souless expanses of butler county. that cranberry is an urban savannah these days!

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by amattaro

Some negatives about Pennsylvania:

The weather is terrible.
The property taxes in the metro areas are absurd
The gas tax
Perpetual increase in turnpike tolls
The looming pension crisis as population growth is small and more people start to collect
Pittsburgh airport is woefully underserved
Cost of state colleges/universities is amongst the highest in the country
No in-state tuition reciprocity programs (that I know of) with neighboring states

Some positives about Pennsylvania:
Housing is relatively cheap
Population density is manageable
Fall is beautiful

Kent State used to offer in-state tuition reciprocity to students from southwestern Pennsylvania. (I had several close friends from the Pittsburgh area who attended Kent when I was there in the mid-to-late 1990s.) I don't know if KSU still does so, but I do know that they currently offer a steep discount at several of their various branches to SWPA students.

I'd always assumed that some of the smaller Pennsylvania state schools at the very least had similar arrangements in order to draw students from the east central Ohio valley, northeastern Ohio and the West Virginia panhandle(s).

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by PenguinsFan14

Actually, Detroit's YoY job growth is higher than Pittsburgh's, but I was thinking more like Charlotte or Denver.

Forum members, please note, I wasn't the one who said it!

Some negatives about Pennsylvania:

The weather is terrible. As some have said, it's a matter of opinion. Summer nor winter is extreme.
The property taxes in the metro areas are absurd As best I can tell, they are similar to Omaha Nebraska's.
The gas tax Don't know enough about that to comment.
Perpetual increase in turn pike tolls Ditto
The looming pension crisis as population growth is small and more people start to collect Well, that's everywhere, as we Bad Boomers retire.
Pittsburgh airport is woefully underserved ??
Cost of state colleges/universities is amongst the highest in the country Yes
No in-state tuition reciprocity programs (that I know of) with neighboring states Already responded to. Some colleges in C******* have such programs.
https://highered.colorado.gov/academics/programs/
WICHE - Student Exchange Programs

Some positives about Pennsylvania:
Housing is relatively cheap Yes
Population density is manageable Don't know what that means.
Fall is beautiful Yes!


My responses in COLOR.

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Job growth is not low. In fact, it's accelerated in the last 18 months. Here's the year-over-year data by month since January 2017:


+3,300 - January 2017
+8,600 - February 2017
+6,400 - March 2017
+7,000 - April 2017
+11,300 - May 2017
+12,200 - June 2017
+11,300 - July 2017
+13,600 - August 2017
+16,400 - September 2017
+17,200 - October 2017
+19,600 - November 2017
+23,600 - December 2017
+16,800 - January 2018
+14,900 - February 2018
+14,300 - March 2018
+12,700 - April 2018
+10,900 - May 2018
+16,100 - June 2018
+14,600 - July 2018


All the numbers above except July 2018 have been revised, which means that they're official data. The recent trend that has developed in the last 18 months is moderate job growth. All but one month since May 2017 has had year-over-year job growth of at least 1.0%, and one month even had 2.0% year-over-year job growth.

Some people will suggest that we talk about 2013-2016 as if we're still living in any of those years, and the explanation for 2015-2016 is actually very easy: the energy bust. Every place with an economy tied to the energy industry felt the pain. Here's the year-over-year job growth by month for the Houston MSA in 2016:


+7,300 - January 2016
+2,600 - February 2016
-1,300 - March 2016
+6,400 - April 2016
+2,300 - May 2016
-4,700 - June 2016
-3,700 - July 2016
-5,900 - August 2016
-600 - September 2016
-7,300 - October 2016
+600 - November 2016
-2,200 - December 2016


Houston also lost jobs year over year in January 2017 before things began to return to normal there. And this is a major metropolitan area in balls-to-the-wall Texas that we're talking about. In fact, it's the fastest-growing MSA in the United States with at least 5,000,000 population. So if the energy bust could send Houston's economy into the abyss, just imagine what kind of effect it'd have on a major city situated smack-dab in the middle of one of the largest natural gas fields in the world that's had significant growth in energy jobs since the gas field was discovered about 10 years ago.

Here's the year-over-year job growth by month for the Oklahoma City MSA in 2016:


+1,600 - January 2016
+2,200 - February 2016
+1,400 - March 2016
+3,200 - April 2016
+300 - May 2016
-2,500 - June 2016
-2,300 - July 2016
-1,400 - August 2016
-300 - September 2016
-3,100 - October 2016
-2,400 - November 2016
-3,000 - December 2016


Oklahoma City also lost jobs year over year in January and February 2017 before things began to return to normal there.

Repeat this pattern for the New Orleans MSA as well, plus the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. Job growth began to rapidly decelerate in all these places in 2015 with the collapse of energy jobs, which then spread to the rest of the economy in 2016. The same thing happened in Pittsburgh as happened in all these other places in 2015-2016.

As for 2013-2014, I really don't know why job growth was slow in Pittsburgh during those years. All I know is that 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2017 were all much faster, and so is 2018.

By the way, 1.2% year-over-year job growth is not slow at all. In fact, it results in almost 140,000 new jobs in the span of a decade. As for Detroit, they still had 145,900 fewer jobs there in July 2018 than July 2000, while Pittsburgh set a new employment record in June.

Not sure why you brought any of those up, especially OKC. The only one that is probably apples to apples is Houston, e.g. a major city.

[gladhands]

It should be noted that the Pittsburgh MSA had the 4th highest GDP growth in the nation, in 2017. Job growth was solid, and should increase at a better clip for 2018.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

and so evident in the souless expanses of butler county. that cranberry is an urban savannah these days!

Definitely a lot of building going on in Butler County. Last I heard, Cranberry is supposed to get 10,000 more residents by 2030.

[bradjl2009]

On what planet would 1.2% job growth and 4.4% unemployment be considered bad? I guess I should consider the source though....

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by PenguinsFan14

It's sad to see that pittsburgh's job growth has lagged far behind other major cities during this economic expansion. In fact, the state as a whole is far behind in job growth when compared nationally and both pittsburgh and PA have unemployment rates far above the national average. Why is this? And why, during an election year, is no one talking about this? Last year we had a mayor reelected with 96% of the vote and nobody questioned the poor economy. This year we have a governor up for reelection that has consistently presided over a stagnant state economy much worse than nationwide, yet it's not an issue. Are people really satisfied with a 4.4% unemployment rate and 1.2% job growth? It's heartbreaking to see so many highly educated people move away for a better life during what should be an economic boom.

OP, read this link. This local group of economic experts state the reasoning. Instead of rehashing it you can just read it. I agree with all of it for the most part. Also the workforce in the region is shrinking.


https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/201...rt_river_index

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by pittsburghaccuweather

OP, read this link. This local group of economic experts state the reasoning. Instead of rehashing it you can just read it. I agree with all of it for the most part. Also the workforce in the region is shrinking.


https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/201...rt_river_index

I stopped reading two sentences in.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by gladhands

I stopped reading two sentences in.

An opinion piece from PennLive is as useful as any random post on this forum.