A new report from Brookings on the immigrant labor force in metro areas ranks Pittsburgh as having the most educated “immigrant flows” in the country.
This isn’t news to those abreast of these trends. Dr. Chris Briem at University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research has documented similar findings. Last year, in a separate study, Briem found that Pittsburgh has the fifth most educated young workforce in the country, ages 25 to 35, finishing beside other intellectual hubs such as Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
And in related news, NBC San Francisco reported this week that highly-skilled, foreign-born tech workers are “fleeing” the Bay area in favor of cities with a more reasonable cost-of-living such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
The timing couldn’t be better for the Southwestern Pennsylvania, says Melanie Harrington of Vibrant Pittsburgh, an organization working to accelerate the growth of a diverse workforce in the region.
“There is a migration that is beginning to occur here,” says Harrington. The region is finally stemming the brain drain and turning around our once declining population, she adds. The relatively reasonable cost-of-living, safe communities and proximity to centers of higher learning are attractive to many looking for a community to raise families.
“The challenge is that we’re not the only region that’s attractive,” she says. “We must continue to promote the fact that we are here, do some rebranding so more people know about us. We want to speed up this immigration trend.”
Facilitating this process is what Vibrant Pittsburgh is all about. VP is working on a new initiative with Leadership Pittsburgh called The New Arrivals Bridge, helping diverse professionals moving into the region, and their families, to build networks and find communities where they can be comfortable and thrive.
“The faster this happens, the more likely individuals will be to create a plan and stay,” she says.
Source: Brookings; Melanie Harrington, Vibrant Pittsburgh
Writer: Deb Smit
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