The Pittsburgh region’s unemployment rate continued to move lower in February but remains higher than what is seen nationwide. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area fell .4 percent to 4.8 percent over the 12-month period ending in February, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor’s Center for Workforce... More
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Population Slips Again
The Pittsburgh region’s population continued to slide in 2017, falling to 2,333,367 people, according to recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. It marked the fifth consecutive year population has declined in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area. “The Pittsburgh region is a place that has suffered from a lot of population loss for... More
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Tipping the Scales
Southwestern Pennsylvania has the highest percentage of “healthy weight” adults among the Pittsburgh Today benchmark regions, according to 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the most recent available. But here’s the catch: Fewer than 1 in 3 southwestern Pennsylvanians are a healthy weight and more than... More
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Unemployment Continues to Drop
Unemployment fell slightly in southwestern Pennsylvania during the first month of 2018, but expanding the regional labor force continues to be a problem. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area decreased from 5.3 percent in January 2017 to 4.9 percent in January 2018, according to data from the U.S. Bureau... More
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Jobs Ended Slump In 2017
Southwestern Pennsylvania awoke from four years of stagnant job growth adding 12,600 jobs in 2017 – a 1.1 percent year-over-year increase in jobs across the region, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although it was slightly less than the average job growth among 16 Pittsburgh Today benchmark regions last year, the increase... More
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Regional Wages Slip
The average wage in the Pittsburgh region dropped slightly in the third quarter of 2017 following two quarters of steady year-over-year growth. The average worker in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area took home $1000 per week in the third quarter of 2017, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s... More
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Developing Young Minds
In early childhood, technology holds promise and pitfalls On May 1, 1969, a western Pennsylvania native with a relatively unknown children’s program testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Communication. Public broadcasting faced having its $20 million budget cut in half, and policymakers were skeptical about the educational benefit of children watching television – until Fred... More
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Health Coverage Widespread
Pittsburghers are covered when it comes to having health insurance. About 96 percent of adults in the Pittsburgh region reported having some type of health insurance in 2016, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The rate of health care coverage in the seven-county Pittsburgh... More
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Easy On the Wallet
Region’s cost of living remains low Southwestern Pennsylvania remains more affordable overall than the average U.S. region despite an uptick in the cost of living last year, according to national cost of living data. In 2017, the average composite cost of living index for the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area was 99.6, according to the recently... More