Our Nagging Employment Problem, Part 1

Chris Fleisher in a weekend Pittsburgh “Tribune-Review” article [go here: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/10310205-74/growth-job-region] nails it when reporting on the surprisingly stubborn low job growth in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Job creation in our region is quite simply the most important issue the region faces.  It’s not an exaggeration to state that this is the Pittsburgh region’s existential issue.

Over the past couple years since I’ve been putting my thoughts to electronic “paper” in this blog, I think it’s clear that most of my pieces focus on jobs and income.  Both must increase if the region is to continue to provide residents with the lives they deserve.  And I admit it: I am completely stymied as to why the region continues to lag woefully behind just about every other place in the country when it comes to job creation.  For all the accolades Pittsburgh now garners, in the final analysis, those count for diddly-squat if residents can’t make a good living.

It’s been widely reported that an Uber executive publicly noted that he could “hire 100 more people tomorrow if…” he could find candidates with the right qualifications.  That’s NOT a “good problem” to have.  So here we are: Pittsburgh attracts one of the world’s hottest “new economy” companies to set up a major facility and now they have trouble staffing it.  What gives?  What about the hundreds of eager computer science grads who come out of the region’s colleges and universities?  Not qualified?  Oh but then we read that Pittsburgh is still having trouble retaining young people who are leaving for higher paying areas like the big coastal centers. Really?  Is it simply that companies like Uber can come into town paying third-world salaries because Pittsburgh has a lower cost of living than Palo Alto?  I bet not. So is it just that Pittsburgh’s college grads are so much more sophisticated than those coming out of UNC who stay in the Research Triangle, or those out of UT who then stay in Austin, or those silly grads from Stanford and Cal who triple up in $4000 a month one bedroom apartments in San Francisco?  I bet not and I’m sure I’ll win that one.

You understand my confusion?  And concern.  No region holds onto all its children.  There are a million ways in this world to make your success and there is a whole planet’s worth of locales in which to do that. But if a region is not generating enough new jobs to retain those individuals for whom staying put is the easiest path, how can we possibly expect to attract and hold new residents who will by definition expand the economic and intellectual vitality of the area?

However, having said all that, I still believe there’s a solution here.  Part 2 to follow.

Something Good and Something Getting Better

Something good – really good - is that the August Wilson house in the Hill District is finally getting the long term funding it deserves as the home of what many believe [this blogger for one] is Pittsburgh’s greatest 20^th century playwright.  This is an example of the vision of many individuals being translated, transformed really, into concrete action.  Bravo. More of this please.  The Hill District has been the too-often unacknowledged cauldron of so much creativity vis a vis its music [primarily jazz] scene, journalism [The “Pittsburgh Courier”], arts [photographer Charles ”Teenie” Harris] and theatre [Mr. Wilson’s work as well as other theatre and cabaret ventures].  Let us celebrate that history to build a new one for what some of us believe can become the living room atop downtown’s front door entrance.

Getting better is the region’s air quality.  In the latest American Lung Association “State of the Air” report on the air quality in the nation’s metro areas, Pittsburgh is still at an unacceptably low level – 14^th worst in the nation.  BUT that is better than just a few, like five, years ago when we were the second worst metro area, only outranked by either Los Angeles or Bakersfield.  More importantly, there has been steady improvement in all measurement categories year over year.  Let’s keep it going.  It’s amazing that a very small number of industrial emitters, and a couple as far away as Weirton, WV, have such a detrimental effect on Pittsburgh’s air.  Still, progress is progress.  Pittsburgh got complacent for a bit when the skies brightened after decades of grey.  Let’s continue to support those who work to get our air quality into the TOP 10.

Audrey Russo Gets It!

What an exciting thing to read in the latest NEXTPittsburgh Web site edition comments by Audrey Russo of the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

Yes, yes and more yes those of us that love Pittsburgh are thrilled with all the positive attention our city has recently received from both national and international sources, some of whom, other than those ubiquitous “best of” lists, actually matter.  But there is a discomfort about this and I suspect it comes from informed Pittsburghers realizing there remains a lot missing from those rosier views of our fair city.  Audrey Russo is one of those informed realists.

Here’s the money shot quote from NEXTPittsburgh’s piece with the cumbersome title “What We Love And Don’t Love About All The National Press Pittsburgh Is Getting”:

“Despite the significant press, new Census Bureau estimates show the Pittsburgh metropolitan area lost 5,051 people last year. It’s down 3,240 overall since the 2010 census, the only one of the nation’s 30 largest metro areas to have lost population.

That worries Audrey Russo, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, who works to cultivate relationships with investors outside the region, because telling the city’s story isn’t enough.

“There’s not real investment happening here and let’s face it, that’s what matters,” says Russo, who acknowledges she’s “the biggest fan” of cool things happening in Pittsburgh but she’s troubled by the population loss.

Pittsburgh doesn’t need to grow as quickly or as much as Raleigh, N.C., but it needs to keep up, Russo says. “It’s not a marketing campaign—it’s not the days of New York saying, ‘We’re the Big Apple.’ The world is a different place and you can’t fool people. It’s a campaign to get investment here. It’s a matter of designing public policy to be attractive, and making sure the relationships are cultivated.””

Here’s the link to the whole article.  And thank you Audrey Russo.  There’s still a lot of hard, fun, rewarding, frustrating work to be done on building a better Pittsburgh.  Long may Ms. Russo and people like her work in and for Pittsburgh.

http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/