Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Small-Business Pittsburgh

Another day, another stellar ranking. The Pittsburgh Business Times with the good news:

The Pittsburgh area is No. 23 in the standings of 100 major metropolitan areas, as rated by The Business Journals, the online arm of Business First’s parent company, American City Business Journals Inc.

That’s a sharp upswing from a year ago, when Pittsburgh was 71st. (Click here to see the full national standings.)

The rankings are based on a six-part formula that rewards markets that have prosperous economies, are expanding rapidly, and are densely packed with small businesses. (It defines a small business as any private-sector employer with 99 or fewer employees.)

Other big movers in the rankings I noticed are San Jose, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Data for 2009, 2010, and 2011 are listed. Overall, I'd say the results are volatile. What goes up one year can come down just as dramatically the next.

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