Brian O’Neill of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has written what we consider to be the ultimate definition of the relationship between southwestern Pennsylvania its team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
How this relationship transcends geography, social and even our work lives is described in a way that any non-citizen of Steelers Nation may finally understand.
To quote a small portion: “The real Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh of the mind, extends beyond our city's freakishly small 56 square miles and into the suburbs of neighboring counties. You could even say, as E.J. Montini suggests, that Pittsburgh extends into all those Steelers bars dotting the country, the legacy of the great Diaspora caused by the implosion of the steel industry in the 1970s and '80s”.
“There is almost no social situation where a Steelers jersey is frowned upon. Work. Church. School. Prom. The local desire to wear the names of other people on their black-and-gold backs can confuse newcomers. One reader called me earlier this month to say she'd just moved to Pittsburgh last summer and was working in a day care center where "every baby in the zero-to-3 group" wore Steelers paraphernalia on Fridays”.
Read Brian O’Neill’s full article here.
As the recession begins to deepen in the Pittsburgh region we are seeing an inability of local employers to make decisions about their recruitment plans. We continue to speak with hundreds of Pittsburgh area recruiters each week and are hearing from many of them that they have open positions they need to fill but either are not allowed, at least for the short term, to spend money in the effort, or are fearful of filling a position only to be told within weeks or months that they have to lay the new employee off.
Pittsburgh recruiters are currently just holding their breath. Many of our postings have communicated how we in Pittsburgh are fairing better than most areas around the country. The next month or two should really set the tone of how hard we are ultimately hit for all of 2009.
Most of the layoff announcements that have been publically made over the past month or two that affect Pittsburgh workers have been primarily companies with a national presence (Target, Ericsson, Home Depot, Circuit City) or large financial institutions (PNC Bank, BNY Mellon).
Healthcare and education continue to be the strength of our current job market condition. By keeping, and even continuing to increase, overall jobs in these areas of strength, other area support industries (retail, hospitality and other service industries) have been able to maintain more strength (jobs) than they would otherwise. This is different than in 2001-2002 when we lost 10,000 jobs from US Air.
The most optimistic forecasts predict the recession will continue to deepen until at least June. We will continue to report on strengths and weaknesses for our local job market as we see them.
To try and leave with at least one piece of good news, Single Source Roofing will be adding 50 jobs soon as they move into their new corporate headquarters in the Southpoint Business Park (see announcement from the Pittsburgh Business Times) and Yellow cab will be expanding as they add new service to the south hills area (see Pittsburgh Post gazette article).
Over the past two weeks both Forbes magazine and the Monster Employment Index showed Pittsburgh to be one of the best job markets in the country. As good as that sounds it does not mean the job market in Pittsburgh is currently great. It is just better than most other areas of the U.S. The Monster Employment Index names Pittsburgh a top 5 market while the Forbes article includes Pittsburgh as one of the 10 Best job markets as of December.
The Monster index at the same time showed a dramatic decline for Pittsburgh during December and based on what we are seeing currently this trend will continue into January. Without question the best job categories continue to be Healthcare and Education. We are also seeing some strength in Protective Services and Drivers.
By far, here in Pittsburgh as with most of the country, the weakest demand is in Retail and Sales. We continue to monitor closely the local environment and will report changes as we se them.
Brian O’Neill of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has written what we consider to be the ultimate definition of the relationship between southwestern Pennsylvania its team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
