Employment data shows Berks, and southeast Pennsylvania neighbors flourishing

[modrepub]

Where employment is concerned, it's a tale of two Pennsylvanias: southeastern Pennsylvania, and the rest of the state.

That's the conclusion of two Theodores - Theodore R. Alter and Theodore E. Fuller, economists for the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, along with research associates Tessa Sontheimer and Gretchen Seigworth.

The researchers authored a report called "Pennsylvania Employment on the Move, 2001-2017." They examined how individual Pennsylvania counties fared during three periods over 16 years with respect to resident employment.

Resident employment is the number of employed people living in a county.

The team transformed gobs of stupefying, spreadsheet data into 18-pages of colorful, easily digestible maps and graphics.

By using the language of color to represent employment gains and losses, the contours of the two Pennsylvanias are easily defined and understood, researchers said.

The report showed that Southeastern Pennsylvania, including Berks County, is flourishing, and most of the rest of the state is foundering, with respect to employment.

Those findings mirror population trends in rural parts of Pennsylvania, according to Mark A. Price, a labor economist for the Harrisburg-based Keystone Research Center

Link: http://www.readingeagle.com/money/article/employment-data-shows-berks-and-southeast-pennsylvania-neighbors-flourishing


&maxH=500&maxW=750&Q=40)


Couple of comments:

1. All that Oil & Shale development has done nothing for the areas of PA where it's occurring (could say the same with coal)
2. Time to start putting the state's tax money into areas where we are getting the most return

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Health care is driving consumerism which is driving SE PA

But for the traditionally marginally employed and unemployed, it's just trickle down jobs at corporate chains. No real path upward from there no matter how much they hype it.