You Can Be Sure if it’s Westinghouse

The decision announced this week by Westinghouse to move their entire Monroeville work force to Cranberry Twp. (25 miles down the PA Turnpike) has created more buzz than the Pittsburgh area has seen in many years – both good and bad. It is important to remember, very little will change for about 2 years. Overall the effect on the region’s job market will be neutral for a year or two after the move occures early in 2009. Moving 3,000 plus employees from Monroeville to Cranberry Township will not by itself add or lose jobs for our region. The impact on the individual communities, however, will be tremendous. If there is any silver lining in this for Monroeville it is only that they have 2 years and not 2 months to find replacement tenants for the Westinghouse campus. The impact on the hourly jobs arena will be multiplied by a factor of 3. This is how many support jobs could be affected by this move unless mitigated by replacement jobs for Monroeville. One hotel alone is reporting they will lose over 10,000 room nights per year by this loss. Restaurants and retail in the Monroeville area stand to be impacted severely unless government officials can somehow find a solution.

Now for the positive side to this story. Cranberry will not only GAIN over 3,000 high paying jobs (average salary of the positions is $70,000 per year), but now multiply this number by 3 for how many hourly support jobs that will be created. Any employer of hourly people in Cranberry Twp. will tell you it is already almost impossible to find qualified hourly workers in their area. Where will these workers come from? The only possible answer is over a broad region. Butler County, Beaver County, Lawrence County and northern Allegheny County will all benefit greatly. With the prediction that another 1,000 to 2,000 jobs will be created by Westinghouse after the move, the demand increases even more for hourly support. The trickle down will extend to banking, real estate, automotive, healthcare, Office/Clerical and skilled trades. The Marriott North, located adjacent to Cranberry Woods, now look like geniuses. The Pittsburgh region has not seen anything like this in recent memory. It will be like our own local gold rush to the northern tier of our region. Ten’s of thousands of lives will be strongly affected. Far more people will benefit than lose out. Chalk this up to yet another major victory for the Pittsburgh metro. But let’s not forget the work that needs to be done for the Monroeville area!