The Pittsburgh region once again bucked state and national trends, adding 5,000 jobs in October while the state lost 17,000 and the nation shed 240,000 jobs, according to figures released today.
"This is an indication of an economy that is in pretty good shape. So far, we're just dodging that bullet. We didn't have the (economic) boom, and we don't have a bust," said Jake Haulk, an economist and president of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, a think tank in Castle Shannon.
An increase of 4,900 service-providing jobs helped boosted the Pittsburgh region's nonfarm jobs count to 1,164,100 in October, the second consecutive month of increases in jobs in the seven-county region, the state's Center for Workforce Information and Analysis said.
The region, which consists of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, had 7,600 more jobs in October than in October 2007.
Despite the increase in jobs, the region's unemployment rate increased in October by 0.1 percentage point to 5.5 percent, from 5.4 percent in September. The increase came as the number of jobless residents increased in October to 67,400, from 65,500 in September.
The jobless rate was a full 1 percent higher than the 4.5 percent in October 2007 but was below the state's rate of 5.8 percent and the national rate of 6.5 percent in October.
The Pittsburgh region seems to lag 10 months behind a national recession that economists say began in December 2007, Haulk said.
The high concentration of jobs in health care and education seems to be carrying the economy, even in times of a recession, said Harold D. Miller, president of Future Strategies LLC., a Downtown consulting firm. A diversified economy has helped the region, Miller said.
Despite the overall increase in jobs, Robert Dye, vice president senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh, pointed out the report shows 4,000 jobs were added by school districts and government education services, while another 2,100 were added by colleges and universities.
"We have to look at the month-to-month changes with a little skepticism," Dye said.
The manufacturing sector, which employed 99,000 in October, down slightly from 99,300 in September, is holding up reasonably well, despite the economic downturn, Dye said.
There might be even an increase in the number of manufacturing jobs if employers could find the skilled workers to fill vacancies, Miller said.
Although the Pittsburgh area looks like it is doing better than the rest of the country, it will not escape the effects of the recession, Dye said.
"I expect to see job losses in the next few months, but below the national average. Recessionary forces are working to such an extent that virtually no part of the country and no industries will be immune," Dye said. The nation is entering a new stage of the recession, and Dye predicts the economy will not hit bottom until mid-2009, regardless of what the new administration does.
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