In the last year, Pittsburgh gained 7,660 new jobs, saw 340 new business deals and attracted $3.8 billion in capital investments.
These were some of the marquee findings of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development‘s annual investment scorecard for the Pittsburgh region, released on Thursday morning.
Now in its 12th year, the report examines the relative changes in the 10-county region that includes Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
“The scorecard is a data snapshot of our economic development progress that highlights investment bright spots and changes in our regional investment landscape, near- and long-term,” wrote Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, in a media release. “It gives us a high-level look at the strength of our economy, which is the key to our regional vitality equation: a strong economy rounded out by thriving people and quality of place.”
In a media conference after the release, the authors stressed that their scorecard is not a scientific document, but rather a useful curation and presentation of publically available data on our region’s economic health.
Here are a few key takeaways:
– Information technology and robotics investment is booming and — no surprise — concentrated in the Pittsburgh region. For the second straight year, it was the most active economic sector, with total deals increasing by over 50 percent and total jobs growing by 30 percent since 2017.
– Manufacturing ranked as the second most active sector, powered in part by the demand for advanced machines and materials for IT and robotics. The sector saw $252 million in new capital investments and 1,335 new jobs.
– In addition to measuring the creation of new jobs, the scorecard also compiles data on worker retention, noting the county maintained 10,568 jobs over the last year.
– The report highlights the impact of several specific large real estate developments and investments, including Facebook’s new $15 million office in the Strip District, Philips’ move to Bakery Square and the expansion of RoadRunner Recycling’s headquarters in Allegheny County.
– While $3.8 billion seems like a lot, it’s actually a decline from 2017, when our region saw $5.6 billion in capital investments, much of which was driven by Royal Dutch Shell’s initial investment in the ethane cracker plant in Beaver County.
A full summary of the scorecard, along with context and analysis, can be found here.