On a subject that we have written about numerous times over the past few months, an excellent article appeared over the past weekend by Joe Grata of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette summarizing many of the large commercial/industrial projects currently underway or slated for a 2008 start. The jobs provided by these projects, as well as the number of current workers slated for retirement over the next 5 years means for the first time in a decade, Pittsburgh may have to import workers from other areas of the country.
Add to this the two billion plus dollars in road construction to be spent in southwest Pennsylvania and the opportunity for those seeking jobs in this area will be unmatched anywhere around the United States.
We will watch with interest what affect this has on the overall job numbers in the Pittsburgh Metro. Although 2007 has been the best year for job seekers since 2001, actual job growth has been anemic compared to both Pennsylvania as a whole and the country.
We have written a lot recently about the evidence transpiring for a strong hiring season for hourly workers in the Pittsburgh area. This spring is trending toward the strongest we have seen since 2001. However, we need to be careful about painting such an optimistic picture that it would appear anybody with a pulse should have no problem venturing out and landing the first job they apply to. When we speak about hourly workers, especially entry level hourly workers, we are hearing very disturbing evidence that a high number of applicants coming directly out of school do not have the basic skills in reading or math to be able to do many of these jobs adequately.
We recently read an interesting blog post by Harold Miller, President of Future Strategies, LLC, titled “Help Wanted? Help Needed by Young Adults”. Mr. Miller writes about the high poverty and unemployment rate of 18 to 24 year olds in the Pittsburgh area. The point he makes about some of the reasons are valid. The lack of job growth in recent past years being a predominant reason. He also writes about the high number of students who will be graduating soon that are below proficient on state test scores, with percentages over 40%. Quote; “Why are so many of these young adults unemployed? Part of the answer is undoubtedly the slow job growth in the region. But many employers are complaining that they can’t find workers for entry-level jobs. Where’s the disconnect? In a lot of cases, it’s lack of skills”.
We posted a comment on Mr. Miller’s blog:
Of great concern is why these kids are not proficient. Certainly the schools have room for improvement. Fortunately the job market in Pittsburgh is visibly improving. The largest issue in our opinion is too many kids are not being taught at home the benefits of working hard at school. It’s an issue of INCLUSION. Far too many of our students do not feel hard work on their part will ever pay off. They have given up hope at an early age and withdrawn into a drug and/or crime infested subculture. This sub culture is what has created the “it’s not cool to be smart” paradigm. The long term solution that might show the best result would be proactively showing all kids when they reach 7th, 8th and 9th grade what working hard now will mean to them later in life. This would have to mean corporate and business leaders getting directly involved by going into our schools and mentoring our students. Our schools can not do this by themselves.
By not addressing this issue for such a long time employers are now reporting that it’s not that we don’t have enough entry level hourly workers. The problem is we do not have enough QUALIFIED entry level hourly workers. With projections now over the next 5 years of the possibility for a severe worker shortage in Pittsburgh due to the large construction projects and current hiring plans it will be a shame if this is exacerbated by a large percentage of young people who simply cannot read.
In our last post we talked about not popping a cork yet over all the good news about our local job market and that it would be months before the early projections of growth could be verified. Well, maybe we can allow ourselves a little taste after the latest national and local survey reports that were just announced yesterday and today.
First the national report. Jobs nationally were reported to be up by 180,000. This is about 20,000 higher than the most optimistic forecasts. On top of this the past two months were revised higher by 32,000 jobs. According to MarketWatch reporter Greg Robb this is bewildering economists who feared, with the slowing economy, job creation would become anemic. The unemployment rate nationally dropped to 4.4% from 4.5%, matching the rate from last October.
For a fresh look at our local job market, we turn to a semi-annual survey of local small and mid-sized companies conducted by PNC Financial Services Group, as reported by the Post Gazette’s Elwin Green. This survey shows that 23% of local companies plan to add to their staff over the next six months, up from 15% from the last survey done in October. While there is concern over the reported reduction in the number of local jobseekers in February, often a sign of discouraged jobseekers pulling out of the job market, evidence continues to mount that we are in the early stages of one of the best job expansions in 6 years here in the Pittsburgh region. Most of the news we have read about over the past year speaks about how stagnant our area has been with a lack of job growth coupled with an aging population. The aging population (deaths have outnumbered births in our region by ten’s of thousand over the past 6 years) will continue for quite some time, but the Pittsburgh region could soon find itself in a position unthought-of of just a few years ago – a SHORTAGE of hourly workers.
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!
On a subject that we have written about numerous times over the past few months, an excellent article appeared over the past weekend by Joe Grata of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette summarizing many of the large commercial/industrial projects currently underway or slated for a 2008 start. The jobs provided by these projects, as well as the number of current workers slated for retirement over the next 5 years means for the first time in a decade, Pittsburgh may have to import workers from other areas of the country.
