Economy of Pittsburgh
- Main Article: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The economy of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is diversified, focused on services, medicine, higher education, tourism, banking, corporate headquarters and high technology. Once the center of the American steel industry, and still known as "The Steel City," today the city of Pittsburgh has no steel mills.
The city of Pittsburgh has shifted from an industrial economy to one based on health care, research, hospitality and tourism through the 1990s. The City of Pittsburgh was forced to file for financially distressed status under Pennsylvania's Act 47 in December of 2004. Financial analysts are cautiously optimistic as the unemployment rate seems to have peaked at 6.8 percent in January of 2003 and has come back down to 4.8 percent in April of 2005.[1]
The largest employment sector for the Pittsburgh area is in health, educational, and social services. Though heavy manufacturing is only 12.3 percent of the work force as of May 2005. Estimates in 2005 shows research is now the third largest industry; the Pittsburgh area is home to 150 laboratories and over 7,500 scientists and engineers. Service, hospitality, and tourism jobs are growing fast as well, adding more than 10,000 jobs in these sectors since 1994. Film making is another emerging industry. Major motion pictures made in Pittsburgh include the original Angels in the Outfield, Night of the Living Dead, The Deer Hunter, Flashdance, Gung Ho, The Silence of the Lambs, Lorenzo's Oil, Hoffa, Groundhog Day, The Wonder Boys, and The Mothman Prophecies. [2]
Major Employers
The Industrial Employers
Present Employers
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
“UPMC is an $8 billion integrated global health enterprise headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is one of the leading health systems in the United States. UPMC is western Pennsylvania’s largest employer, with 50,000 employees, and ranks as the no. 2 employer in the Commonwealth. UPMC operates 20 academic, community, and specialty hospitals and 400 outpatient sites, employs 2,700 physicians, and offers an array of rehabilitation, retirement, and long-term care facilities. UPMC is committed to giving back and reinvesting in the community. In the most recent fiscal year, UPMC’s community contributions topped $500 million and represented 13 percent of net patient revenue. In 2007, UPMC made a $100 million commitment to The Pittsburgh Promise to fund postsecondary education for Pittsburgh’s high school graduates.” [3]
Giant Eagle, Inc.
"Giant Eagle Inc., ranked 32 on Forbes magazine's largest private corporations list and past recipient of Progressive Grocer's Retailer of the Year Award and the EPA's ENERGY STAR Retail Partner of the Year Award, is one of the nation's largest food retailers and food distributors with approximately $7.1 billion in annual sales. Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle, Inc. has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with 158 corporate and 65 independently owned and operated supermarkets in addition to more than 130 fuel and convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia and Maryland." [4] Giant Eagle, Inc. currently employs over 30,000 community members. [5]
History
Early Foundation
During the 18th century large coal deposits were discovered throughout Pittsburgh. Mt. Washington originally called "Coal Hill" “most valuable deposit of bituminous coal in the entire united States was discovered there in 1760”. [6] Along with the natural resources of the area, Pittsburgh was central located among major trade routes of the United States, thusly making Pittsburgh "one of the world's leading industrial powerhouses". [7]
Industrial Revolution
Pittsburgh produced around one third of the national output of steel by the 1920's. During this time period Pittsburgh was home to the world's largest tube and pipe mill, structural steel plant, rail mill, wire manufacturing plant, bridge and construction fabricating plant.[citation needed]
"Boat building and metal industries were later the economic base of the region. When coke from coal began to replace charcoal from wood in iron and steel making Pittsburgh grew up as the heart of the industry. A plentiful supply of bituminous coal underlies the Pittsburgh area." Around forty percent of the nations coal was obtained from within 100 miles of Pittsburgh. [8]
Twentieth Century
In the 1900s the economy of Pittsburgh was primarily driven by the steel industry. In 1901, The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers organized a general strike against the U.S. Steel Corporation subsidiaries, causing the first strike since 1892.[9]
Due to the reforms of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, steel unions gained success in Pittsburgh. The Wagner Act of 1935 gave employees rights to self-organize in labor unions and made it unlawful for employers to prevent or interfer with such unions.[10]
However in the 1980s the steel industry collapsed leaving half of the nation's steelworkers unemployed.
Transition into the Present Economy
Present Economy
Pittsburgh appears to not have been as affected as badly as the rest of the nation during the absolute worst of the recession. Our nations economy has taking the hardest hits in the housing and auto industry, fortunately for Pittsburgh, it has relatively little dependence to either of these industries. Pittsburgh never had much of a “housing boom”, thus Pittsburgh has not been disturbed locally to the loss of the housing activity. Pittsburgh has several educational institutions and a wide range of health care related employers that steady the local economy through the recession. As a result, Pittsburgh’s unemployment rate will remain well below average.[11]
Industries
Statistics
Employment
The largest occupational group in the Pittsburgh area was office and administrative support with a total of 202,300 jobs representing 18.0 percent of area employment. Sales and related jobs made up the second-largest major occupational group in the Pittsburgh area with 124,520 jobs and 11.1 percent of local employment. Other local occupational groups with above-average shares included healthcare practitioner and technical, healthcare support, community and social services, and food preparation and serving related. Transportation and material moving and production jobs were also among the larger occupational groups in Pittsburgh, accounting for 6.9 and 6.7 percent of employment, respectively. [12]
Twenty First Century Progression
1 out of every 5 jobs in the Pittsburgh region is in health care or higher education, the second highest percentage among the top 40 regions. Fortunately, our region’s strengths are broader than health care and higher education. We have 3,400 more jobs in professional and business services than 2008, the fifth highest growth rate in that sector among the top 40 regions. In 2008, Pittsburgh added 1,500 construction jobs, thanks to the many development projects around the region. [13]
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References
- ^ [1], "Pittsburgh: Economy".
- ^ [2], "Pittsburgh: Economy".
- ^ http://www.upmc.com/aboutupmc/fast-facts/Pages/default.aspx
- ^ http://www.gianteagle.com/Article.aspx?cntid=177971
- ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20020408topprivatebiz7P7.asp
- ^ Hazo, Samuel. The Pittsburgh That Starts with You. 1986. p. 15
- ^ http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Pittsburgh:Pennsylvania.htm
- ^ [3], "The History of the Economy of Pittsburgh".
- ^ http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/chronology/chronology_driver.pl?searchtype=dbrowse;year=1900;year2=1909;start_line=15
- ^ http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/wagner_act.html
- ^ [https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Requester?resource=/wps/wcm/connect/e63706004e5c67d3851f87fc6d630ad7/Pittsburgh_Oct09.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=e63706004e5c67d3851f87fc6d630ad7, "Pittsburgh Market Outlook".
- ^ [4], "Occupational employment and wages in Pittsburgh" United States Department of Labor.
- ^ [5], "Pittsburgh's Future: Why is the Economy doing Better than the Rest of the Country?".