Pittsburgh area adds jobs in September, loss of workers reflects slow recovery – By Joe Napsha (Trib Live) / Nov 2 2021
The Pittsburgh region had 10,000 fewer workers in September than a year ago, despite the availability of the covid vaccine, employers offering higher wages and the federal government eliminating extra jobless benefits.
The seven-county region saw the labor force decrease to 1.16 million workers in September, a drop of 13,600 from August, according to data released Tuesday by the state’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. Based on seasonal hiring factors, the state said the labor force grew by 1,400 employees from August to September, but still had 11,100 fewer workers than a year ago.
“The labor force is not just coming back. People are looking at everything and are deciding they don’t need to come back to work,” said Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, a Castle Shannon-based think-tank.
The shrinking labor force in the region — a decrease of about 51,000 from the pre-pandemic times of September 2019 — is hurting the economy, said Christopher Briem, a regional economist with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.
