September 2008 Sees Improved Job Count For Pittsburgh Region

Although the data was taken just prior to the burgeoning financial crises, the Pittsburgh Metro in September saw an increase of over 7,000 jobs from September of 2007. How the job picture will look over the next two months in our area is anybody’s guess, but multiple points of interest have been expressed by area economists. Articles in the Post Gazette and the Tribune-Review show different levels of optimism. We at the Employment Guide saw a relatively strong September but experienced a softening in October compared to a year ago. Remember, we are solely dependent on the placement of help-wanted ads or help-wanted Internet text postings. Our prediction, based on our direct business experience, is that we will see a moderate drop on total jobs in the Pittsburgh Metro when the October numbers are released in another month. As noted in all of the area economist quotes, our strength in healthcare will be the main mitigating factor of how many jobs are lost. Retail is one area being negatively affected in Pittsburgh, although with the opening of Nordstrom and LL Bean the amount of weakness will be diminished at least in the near term.