Study highlights Pittsburgh as a model for modern manufacturing

As world leaders converge on Pittsburgh for September’s G-20 summit, they’ll find a economy that has rebounded from the loss of the steel industry. But manufacturing is still a vital sector of the local economy, says a new report, and the lesson the world should learn from the city is that careful planning, not laissez faire, wrought the three-decade transformation.

“Pittsburgh: The Rest of the Story“, written by Eric Lotke of the Institute for America’s Future, highlights two “unseen” parts of Pittsburgh’s recovery. First, manufacturing still comprises ten percent of the western Pennsylvania economy, sustaining well-paid jobs. Annual manufacturing salaries average $57,000, nearly twice as much as jobs in other sectors such as entertainment and hospitality.

Second, Pittsburgh’s political, corporate and union leaders collaborated closely to achieve regional goals. A collaborative economic strategy for the region as a whole that built on Pittsburgh’s mature industrial infrastructure as well as skills in metals, biomedical research, and computer technology achieved sustainable results.

“It was not the miracle of a laissez faire economy, but policy, economic development strategies and industrial policy” that worked in Pittsburgh, says Robert Borosage, president of the Institute for America’s Future, in a phone interview on the report.

The non-profit group has launched a “Making It In America” initiative to develop and promote a progressive industrial policy for the U.S. “Public and private partnerships picked the winners.”

Source: Robert Borosage
Writer: Chris O’Toole