Pittsburgh Labor Watch: Second Report

Keeping track of economic counter-trends in Greater Pittsburgh, Chris Briem notes that Pittsburgh is experiencing an increase of construction costs while the rest of the country reflects the slack in demand for new buildings. A commenter speculates about the need for labor in-migration to keep up with the various stimulus projects in the pipeline. If you are an unemployed construction worker, then you might consider Pittsburgh as a good destination.

Nationally, there are still talent shortages despite the number of stories disparaging rising unemployment. The word from Pittsburgh:

Corporations such as Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Company and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy are hiring engineers and adding other workers as they expand manufacturing facilities, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group. (GE Hitachi is a partnership between General Electric Co. and Tokyo-based Hitachi Ltd.)

But job-seekers beware. Pittsburgh is still an insular employment market and competition for scarce positions is only getting more fierce. Personal connections are landing interviews given the deep talent pools. However, those currently residing in Pittsburgh and struggling to make ends meet are in a good place to ride out the depression. I recommend exploring labor mobility options at local colleges or universities. Extra schooling is a great place to network and hit the ground running when the economy begins to recover.

Geographic Mobility Education

I'm beholden to Richard Florida's research on two counts. First, understanding Spiky World geography is a powerful perspective simply from the standpoint of moving to a place with a substantially higher cost of living than your current location. The migrant is still making a rationale choice and that's critical for appreciating the value of density. Second, Florida is a vocal proponent of geographic mobility. Hence, his call for a new American Dream:

This creeping rigidity in the labor market handcuffs our competitiveness. Economist Andrew Oswald has found that in the U.S. and Europe, places with higher homeownership rates also suffered from higher unemployment. During down times, homeownership can lock people into blighted locations and force them into work, if they can find it, that’s a poor match for their abilities.

Policies that help to create captive labor markets are bad for the national (and global) economy. Trying to keep young adult talent from leaving a region is similarly misguided. So is the current design of the H-1B visa program. We should be promoting geographic mobility instead of trying to stifle it.

Enter the World Bank with a groundbreaking report advocating for increased migration:

The new [World Development Report] challenges the assumption that economic activities must be spread geographically to benefit the world’s most poor and vulnerable. Trying to spread out economic activity can hinder growth and does little to fight poverty. For rapid, shared growth, governments must promote economic integration which, at its core, is about the mobility of people, products, and ideas.

Trying to plug the brain drain is harmful to both individuals and, eventually, the entire community. We should be helping our children, if we really want them to prosper, to become more geographically mobile. The real policy challenge is figuring out how to generate a local return on out-migration. Few politicians seem to grasp this, instead opting for anachronistic workforce development that feeds local enterprise with undervalued talent. The lack of vision is disappointing.

Cosmopolitan Welcome to Pittsburgh

Special thanks to Janko for passing along the link to the video.

Burgh Diaspora: Washington, DC

A reminder about the upcoming screening of "My Tale of Two Cities" in the DC region:

Take a walk past the Pour House in Cap Hill when the Steelers, Pirates, or Penguins are playing and you’ll get the sense D.C. is crawling with Pittsburgh expats. My Tale of Two Cities is a movie right in their black-and-gold wheelhouse. The film by native Carl Kurlander (screenwriter for St. Elmo’s Fire, the ’80s classic inspired by a Pittsburgh waitress who moved to D.C.) chronicles his city’s transformations, particularly its life after the death of steel. Although a bit heavy on the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood motif, the film’s larger focus is one that resonates with people who don’t make regular pilgrimages to Primanti’s: After your stints in New York, Los Angeles, D.C., wherever, can you really go home again? Kurlander decides he can, abandoning the Sunset Strip for Squirrel Hill around the time Pittsburgh is getting its groove back. Along the way, he gets some nice reflections from the city’s more famous alums: former Steeler Franco Harris, would-be first lady Teresa Heinz Kerry, comedian Louie Anderson, and, of course, Mr. McFeely (David Newell), our old mailman chum from the Neighborhood. Newell and Harris join the filmmaker at the screening. MY TALE OF TWO CITIES SCREENS AT 7 P.M. AT the AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER, 8633 COLESVILLE ROAD, SILVER SPRING. $10. (301) 585-0716.

Greater Chicagoland

Economic exogenous shocks force us to re-imagine our communities. What will be the dominant geographic paradigm as we rebound from this depression? New localism is one possibility. The current crisis of trust could, very well, put an end to the world system as we know it. However, a broader conception of home seems more likely and better suited to deal with the mood swings of globalization:

West Michigan? Not anymore. Greater Chicagoland might be a better moniker in the global economy, Richard Longworth told the Economic Club of Grand Rapids Monday.

Besides, why claim the state's stigma?

"West Michigan has more to do with Chicago than it does with Detroit or even Lansing," said Longworth, a veteran journalist and senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

"Globalization couldn't care less about state lines drawn two centuries ago.

"The Midwest states have everything in common, but they're trying to fight this battle on their own. We're basically one economy and we should be working together."

I'm still not convinced that a Great Lakes Economic Initiative could work or that there is a cohesive Midwestern identity that would pave the way for fruitful collaboration. But I buy the idea of Greater Chicagoland.

Greater Chicagoland, as I would define it, is the geographic extent that the global urban economy of Chicago generates enough trust to begin abating destructive competition (zero sum economic development). Civic Analytics puts it in more digestable terms:

Robert Denson and Paul Gregoire, co-chairs of the regional strategy in Central Iowa, hit the mark: "We just don't have the people and resources within our individual jurisdictions to compete. No single community or county in Iowa does."

Refocusing that perspective on the Tech Belt, each participating community should be asking what the greater region allows it to do that it otherwise could not. How could Pittsburgh benefit from better connectivity with Youngstown, Akron or Cleveland?

The Trouble With Land-Grant Universities

Flagship state schools, particularly in the Midwest, are relics of an economic geography dominant in the late 19th century. The agricultural focus was fine for putting a university in the middle of nowhere, where aspiring farmers could funnel in from all around the state. Today, that very isolation is wasting valuable brain power:

The University’s renowned international reputation, the health care industry, quality of life, green space, proximity to Detroit and easy access to Detroit Metropolitan Airport are all named as important factors to Ann Arbor’s prosperity.

[Lou Glazer (president of Michigan Future, an Ann Arbor-based think tank that conducts research on Michigan’s transition to a knowledge-based economy)] said it is the size of the University’s research operations and Ann Arbor’s central location in Southeast Michigan that distinguishes Ann Arbor from other college towns.

This combination is what gives the University more spin-off potential than other schools, he said, adding that if Ann Arbor was located a hundred miles north or south, the University would have a much smaller impact on economic development.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, another flagship research school, is an example of academia’s irrelevance if the school isn’t in a prime location, Glazer said.

“The University of Illinois in Champaign has almost no effect because it’s out in the middle of a corn field,” he said.

Pittsburgh is fortunate to have two major research universities within city limits. The density of knowledge production in Oakland, just 5 miles from the CBD, is fueling Pittsburgh's latest renaissance. This asset really comes to the fore in the latest issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly.

"Pittsburgh's College Corridor" starts in downtown with Point Park University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. In Uptown is, of course, Duquesne University. Oakland has Pitt, CMU and Carlow University. Lastly, there is Chatham University in Shadyside. Increasing the connectivity between these institutions, along with better transportation to and from the airport, should be priortiy one for economic development.

The biggest obstacle to realizing this vision is the barrier between downtown and Uptown. At the heart of the matter is Mellon Arena, which some residents would like to save. The Civic Arena effectively isolated the Upper Hill District and destroyed the Lower Hill District neighborhood. Reconnect the Hill with downtown and breathe life into the College Corridor.

This isn't just a big idea that made for a nice story. Joanna Burley, Director of Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, makes the following offer:

We've got an awful lot of schools in this area. If someone came through with an interaction plan that really made sense and benefited all of the schools and higher education in this region, I would take a very serious look at it.

I challenge the Pittsburgh social media community to craft an interaction plan. Do check out the story in Pittsburgh Quarterly. Students from all seven schools were interviewed and make a number of good suggestions. For example, I see a clear need for a blog covering the College Corridor scene. This blog could spark a functional collective identity, something I think social media is uniquely positioned to do.

The Good Bad News From Pittsburgh

If you think I look bad, you ought to see the other guy. The grim news is that Pittsburgh should shed 25,000 jobs over the course of 2009. Unemployment is expected to near 8 percent. And that's exactly why you should think about moving to Southwestern PA:

"We have seen a much more tame downturn in the region from the recession ... and I think the recession here this year will be less severe than the national trend," [PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Chief Economist Stuart Hoffman] said during an economic and real estate forecast program sponored by the Grubb & Ellis Co.

This depression won't spare any city (even Houston), any part of the country. The issue is which places will rebound first and lead the nation's recovery. I'm still optimistic that Pittsburgh will be among this group, as long as there is a new mayor.




















The face of New Pittsburgh?

Stem Cells and Brain Drain

Australia is struggling to remain open to immigrants. The United States is concerned about reverse brain drain as a result of rising populism. As for Canada, they are suffering from stem cell research envy:

A McMaster researcher says "it's a wonderful thing" that U.S. President Barack Obama is loosening restrictions on American-funded stem cell research. But Dr. Mick Bhatia admits he's worried it will make it harder to attract talent to Canada and cause a brain drain to the United States.

"I think it's going to be a little harder for us to get those people," Bhatia, the scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, said yesterday, in the wake of the president's announcement.

"I would be disingenuous if I said I wasn't concerned."

Across the board, Canada sees itself as weak on innovation. With Barack Obama now President, the United States is returning as a favorable destination for Canadian-cultivated talent. The liberalization of stem cell research demonstrates how quickly a few policy changes could restore the U.S. as a beacon of creative enterprise.

But the other shoe is yet to drop. Will Obama lead the charge and retool US immigration law? Senator Charles Grassley's xenophobic crusade is alread causing problems for foreign born brains. As other countries submit to protectionist tendencies, we should welcome globetrotting labor here. But the early indications are that the necessary change is not forthcoming.

Erie Economic Development

While I toil for the Tech Belt, I still harbor interest in the fate of my hometown of Erie, PA. My vision for that city's revitalization places tourism, recreation and conventions at the center. Lake Erie is clearly the main asset, but I also think the city could serve as the key liaison with the Toronto marketplace and Ontario's own Rust Belt. The picture I have in my head are the droves of Canadians who besiege Grove City (and Erie) looking for Christmas bargains. Something I haven't considered is the bucolic splendor of Northwestern PA:

At Hurry Hill, visitors can tour the sugarbush on foot or ride in hay wagons pulled by a tractor or teams of draft horses. At the sugarhouse, a warming tent has children's activities and a stand offering free maple hot chocolate and samples of maple products. Woods has also fashioned a new maple sugar museum, displaying antique sugaring equipment. Her demonstrations of the maple-sugaring process go on all day. She engages young and old, blending science with history and culture in an entertaining way that ensures visitors will leave knowing more about the sweet product.

"I love watching my kids learn and experience something new," said Pamela Brown, a teacher who moved to Corry, Pa., from Arizona several years ago with her husband and five children. "The boys also got to try drilling into a dead tree to see how to tap a maple."

Ray Sammartino of Erie, Pa., who was at Hurry Hill with his wife, Jackie, said, "The event . . . was like stepping back in time. It's a craft that has not changed, and I was amazed at how complex the process is."

I see the potential for a year-round industry and I'm familiar with the landscape described above. I have fond memories of swimming in Lake LeBeouf (many of my relatives lived in Waterford) and my early childhood was spent running around in a neighborhood in Edinboro. I also recall members of the Youngstown mafia summering in Erie, giving parts of downtown a resort-like feel.

Erie is one of the few places in Pennsylvania where I think locating a casino is a good idea. It helps to fill Erie's regional economic niche and to make the area a destination, putting it on the map of outsiders. I've read more than a few stories about people relocating to a favorite vacation spot. Erie could similarly benefit with a reorientation of the city core towards a tourist economy, specifically targetting Toronto, Pittsburgh, and DC. The DC-Erie connection (via Pittsburgh) is likely the most lucrative. If you didn't notice, the above article is in the Washington Post. The newspaper seems to think the recreational opportunity of sugaring would appeal to its readership.

Blog Release: The BurghBot Project

From Kim Chestney Harvey of the Pittsburgh Technology Council:

Call for Entries: The BurghBot Project

Submission Deadline: April 1, 2009

Are you an artist interested in exploring new media? A roboticist looking to show off your creativity? If so, the BurghBot Project wants YOU! The Pittsburgh Technology Council and CREATE Lab are currently seeking artists and roboticists to participate in the 2009 Annual Art and Technology Exhibition.

DETAILS: The Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment [CREATE] Lab of the CMU Robotics Institute will provide up to 10 artists with robotic media to serve as a foundation for robotic artwork -- to be juried and showcased during this year’s Art + Technology Exhibition at the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s 15 Minutes Gallery.

SUBMISSIONS: No robotic or new media experience necessary.

MATERIALS: Selected artists will be notified and presented with their materials by April 15, 2009. All artwork must be completed and delivered to the Pittsburgh Technology Council for the exhibition opening on June 18, 2009. BurghBots will be showcased and for sale at the 15 Minutes Gallery, with a portion of proceeds returning to the artist.

ROBOTIC SPECIFICATIONS: Each artist will be supplied with a robotic framework [above] and a three hour instructional workshop. Robots are approximately 18”Hx 8”Wx 6”L. Artists may utilize any creative means to enhance the robots aesthetics or function, as long as no working parts are damaged or destroyed. Robotic frameworks remain property of CREATE Lab.

TO ENTER: To be considered as potential BurghBot artist, email your resume, brief artist statement and porfolio samples to kharvey@pghtech.org by April 1, 2009.

Stay Graduate Stay

Brain drain is so bad in Louisiana that it merits a documentary detailing the tragedy. The problem concerns graduates who want to stay, but feel the economic pressures to relocate expressly for the purpose of gainful employment. I get the impression that brain drain is popularly understood as forced out-migration. Much more devastating is the inability to get out, stuck in a place with little to no opportunity. If you really want to live near home, then I'm sure you could find a way to make it work. But the policies necessary to make it easier for a person to stick around offer a distorted view of the economic geography:

[ULM political science professor John Sutherlin] said the loss of college students is a problem statewide, but particularly bad in northeastern Louisiana because of the loss of large employers in recent years and the type of jobs that are available.

"We're training them for jobs and careers that are viable, but they aren't viable in this part of the state," he said.

Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret said part of the problem is that the state's higher education system is better suited for a state like Massachusetts or California.

"We have a much more skills-based economy," Moret said. "I believe strongly that the dominant reason is that other states have had growing economies and Louisiana has had a stagnant economy." ...

... Louisiana is one of the few states in the country without a population data center. The state has a demographer, Karen Patterson, but [Shreveport demographer and political consultant Elliot Stonecipher] said he doesn't believe she has the resources to affect real change.

Stonecipher said a major re-write of the state's tax structure is needed to begin to draw people in and keep young people, but changing the structure would upset the existing population and be politically risky.

The first suggestion is to train college students for opportunities in that neck of the woods. That is industry-centric workforce development in a nutshell. Prepare locals for local jobs. The approach is popular across the board, but does a grave disservice to the students. This labor mobility framework is out-dated.

The second suggestion is to attract the kind of employers that match the higher education training available. But putting all your eggs in one or two baskets puts your graduates at risk for the inevitable bust part of the economic cycle. That's what happened to Pittsburgh and Youngstown, along with a number of other Rust Belt cities. However, Pittsburgh did well to train its young adults for jobs that might not be located all that close to home. In the long run, that approach paid off handsomely.

The last suggestion is the tired libertarian refrain, tax-induced migration. The explanatory power of the lower tax narrative is fine for intra-regional (i.e. local) geographic mobility. Louisiana isn't going to steal talent from California or Massachusetts because it is relatively more pro-business. The pink steer in the corner is Texas. I'd bet that Louisiana schools provide a wonderful service to Texas employers. When it comes to attracting workers, Louisiana isn't going to out-muscle Texas. When it comes to diaspora networks, few states (if any) can rival that of Louisiana.

Help Brady Middleton succeed, regardless of location.

Pittsburgh: A Suburb of DC

Richard Florida's tracking of talent migration from NYC to DC has generated an interesting reaction:

DC a suburb of New York?! Only if your definition of suburb extends 200 miles beyond a city’s borders.

In all seriousness, clearly Florida does not mean suburb in the conventional sense. And his point is an interesting one: technology enables some of New York’s elite to call DC home.

This pattern, if at all significant, is a product of Flat and Spiky Worlds. It is also an excellent example of urban pairing, a prospect The Urbanophile is exploring concerning Chicago and Indianapolis. The goal of this emerging economic geography is to reduce costs of proximity productivity (i.e. innovation). Second or third tier cities provide sufficient knowledge density along with superior connectivity to the urban core higher up in the mega-regional hierarchy, but at greatly reduced overhead.

If DC can be a "suburb" for NYC, then I think Pittsburgh is the bedroom community for DC. Moving even further down this food chain, I'm currently exploring opportunities in Youngstown as a way to R2P. Both Youngstown and DC offer an avenue for moving back home and getting more involved in Rust Belt redevelopment.

Blog Release: Burgh Boomerang Parties in DC Area and NYC

From "My Tale of Two Cities":

As part of the second annual "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Day, in honor of Fred Rogers' birthday, there will be special screenings of "My Tale of Two Cities", a funny and heartfelt comeback story starring the real-life "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", in various cities with special appearances by Franco Harris and Mr. McFeely, as part of an effort to encourage everyone to wear their favorite sweater on Mister Rogers' actual birthday March 20th and be extra-neighborly that day.

We hope these special events will give Pittsburghers everywhere yet another reason to cheer for the town many of them still consider "home" in their hearts and give those who grew up watching "The Neighborhood" a chance to celebrate America's favorite neighbor. Please help us spread the word to friends and family.

On Monday March 16th in the Washington, D. C. area, Steeler legend Franco Harris and Mr. McFeely of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" will attend a special benefit at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland.

On Thursday March 19 in New York City, Franco Harris and Mr. McFeely (actor David Newell) will be at the Tribeca Cinemas for a screening there.

Both screenings start at 7 p.m. with tickets only $10 and benefit The Pittsburgh Promise and the "Youth and Media Initiative" of the Steeltown Entertainment Project. Please email mytaleoftwocities@gmail.com to reserve tickets in advance as seating is limited. Remember to specify which city you would like tickets for.

Hamilton Diaspora

In Canada's Rust Belt, 1982 has finally arrived. The steel industry in Hamilton, Ontario is collapsing and the city is trying to learn what it can from the Pittsburgh experience:

When the American steel industry started going belly up in the early '80s, Pittsburgh tried to find ways to reuse the mills with no success.

"When that didn't work out, what transpired was the actual demolition of the steel sites," said David Thomas, manager of Pittsburgh's Economic and Industrial Development Corp.

Instead, Pittsburgh reinvented itself on the backs of its universities and the highly-regarded University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

In fact, UPMC alone employs nearly 26,000 people - about the same number as U.S. Steel once did in the city.

"It's a long, arduous process," said Thomas. "It's a very traumatic experience you're about to go through when thousands of people and their families are affected by layoffs."

In Pittsburgh's case, he added, "it took a lot of retraining, it took a lot of turnover, a lot of people left.

"When they talk about Steeler nation - all those Steeler fans across the country - a lot of those people are displaced Pittsburghers who moved to Carolina, Florida, the west," Thomas said.

Globalized Toronto appears unable to stem the exodus of labor from Ontario. Despite the energy boom going bust, people are still relocating to Prairie Provinces such as Saskatchewan. Blue collar workers don't have much of choice and head west in search of jobs, further eroding the country's traditional power-base in Upper Canada.

Ironically, geographic mobility appears to be stronger in Canada than it is in the United States. The demographic shifts resulting from the depression promise to be more profound. There is already considerable anxiety about Ontario-based talent (e.g. academics) heading to the United States. The immediate future in Toronto is cloudy and I'm not so sure Richard Florida is right about that global city's resiliency.

Send In The Clowns

The United Kingdom is suffering from an acute shortage of clown talent:

According to Malcolm Clay, secretary of the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain, British circus schools don't produce artists at an acceptable standard, largely because their students refine skills like tightrope walking or fire-breathing as a hobby, not as part of a life-long career. As a result, British circuses rely on artists from countries with long-established histories of state-sponsored circus schools: they call on Argentina and Colombia for their renowned high wire acts, China and North Korea for acrobats, and Mongolia and Russia for horse riders. (Interestingly, they don't need to import bearded ladies.) Around 500 circus performers enter the U.K. annually, and roughly half of them must obtain short-term visas because they come from outside the European Union.

We won't have to wait too long for the follow-up story about British clowns currently on the dole and how foreign-born circuses performers are displacing them.

Stripping To Stop Brain Drain

I'm serious:

On Monday, Page 3 girl Rhian and male model Matt Peacock will be parading through Manchester’s universities dressed only in application forms which students will have to rip off. The more the students take, the more flesh will be on display. ...

... The scheme is funded by Manchester City Council, the NorthWest Regional Development Agency and the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.

Organisers are now saying there has been so much interest in the project from North West businesses that those who make the top 50 shortlist but fall at the final hurdle will still get the chance to meet prospective employers and talk their way into a job.

The graduate programme has been designed to prevent the ‘brain drain’ that sees Manchester’s top creative talent leave the city for London or New York.

You are welcome, Cleveland Plus.

Update: The publicity stunt is canceled.

Rust Belt Chic: Wheeling, WV

There is a latent mini-Nashville located in West Virginia's one-finger salute to the rest of the world:

While the steel and glass plants are long gone, and Jamboree USA is only a memory, Wheeling officials think all the history wrapped up in the Capitol Music Hall might help get the city’s struggling downtown going again. ...

... So can an old factory city find the key to revitalizing its downtown?

“I think so,” said Luis Rico-Gutierrez, director of the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “But it is more a matter of attitudes than a matter of scales or money. They need to understand that culture is as important as steel was.”

Remaking Cities Institute at CMU? I'm always the last to know.

Poaching Talent: Burgh Diaspora Style

A sure sign of a troubled economy and inter-regional variance in the economy, headhunters are scouring Pittsburgh South (a.k.a. Charlotte, NC) for talent:

First Commonwealth Financial Corp., a regional bank with $6 billion in assets based in Indiana, Pa., has targeted Charlotte in recent weeks. It advertised openings in branch management, sales, accounting, business banking, information technology and corporate services.

“Uncertainty in your future?” the ad begins. “First Commonwealth may be the place for you. We are seeking talented individuals to join our team in Western/Central Pennsylvania.”

Thaddeus Clements, First Commonwealth executive vice president, says he targeted Charlotte for two reasons. He hopes to attract talented workers anxious about their future or displaced by locally based Bank of America Corp. and the former Wachovia Corp. And he says many Charlotte-area residents claim Northern ties and may be interested in returning because of family connections.

A boomerang migration initiative? Brilliant.

“Everyone’s champing at the bit to pull people from Charlotte right now,” says one locally based recruiter. “A lot of it is going on under the table right now.”

Recruiting efforts from out-of-state competitors make sense, given the layoffs and shakeups at BofA, the nation’s largest retail bank, and Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo & Co.

But there’s also irony to the trend, considering so many Charlotte workers fled Northern cities for the Carolinas in the past decade.

UNC Charlotte banking expert Tony Plath calls the recruiting a sign of the times.

“It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to recruit bank talent in Charlotte,” he says. “This is one of the best talent pools in the country for large-scale retail banking.” ...

... Clements, the First Commonwealth vice president, agrees his bank will face challenges recruiting in Charlotte. But he also contends First Commonwealth isn’t a hillbilly operation.

It ranks fifth in deposits in the Pittsburgh market. Clements says the bank will add three Pittsburgh-area branches this year. The bank already has more than half of its 115 branches in the Pittsburgh region and operates its headquarters about an hour away from that city.

First Commonwealth experienced steady growth in recent years through a series of acquisitions and expansions. It recently led the way on a financing consortium for the development of Dick’s Sporting Goods’ world headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Bank officials hope their strong balance sheet — including no government bailouts and a $100 million public offering last year — and a strong metropolitan presence will lure bankers from Charlotte.

“We’re looking for people interested in returning to the area,” Clements says. “And we’re interested in people looking for a new adventure.”

I'm having a great morning.

New South Decline

According to the New York Times, the depression is hitting particularly hard the Southeastern part of the country:

Part of Detroit’s decline is the result of the South’s rise as an automobile manufacturing center. The foreign carmakers that have plants in the South have grabbed some of the market share that was once Detroit’s. But the focus on the South’s relative success has also obscured another trend: in absolute economic terms, much of the South is doing pretty terribly right now.

Despite the dire numbers, the South is expected to rebound and even if people needed to leave the region for a job, they are stuck in a collapsing real estate market. However, that also means that less talent will be relocating to the Sun Belt when the economy begins to recover. I still expect to see some geographic shake up.

Rust Belt Revitalization: Anderson, Indiana

The New York Times offers two dark Rust Belt tales. (thanks to Dorothee and Janko for the article links) In Cleveland, foreclosed homes are the source of community despair. Pontiac, Michigan does its best to make the problems in Cleveland seem trivial by comparison. Bad news often comes in threes, but Anderson, Indiana refuses to oblige:

Mark Harrison, a car dealer, is betting on Anderson’s rebound. Although sales are down, as they are nationwide, he will spend $8 million this year to renovate his Toyota and Chevrolet dealerships.

“Anderson has rails, interstate and low taxes, and a community of willing workers, now that G.M. is gone,” he said. “We’re making an investment in a town that’s hit bottom and we feel like is coming back.”

While Anderson’s population dwindled to less than 58,000 in 2007, from 70,000 in 1970, Indianapolis grew to more than 795,000 in 2007 from nearly 739,000 residents just eight years earlier.

“We’re hoping we can get some spillover from the growth of Indianapolis, some suburban sprawl,” said Mr. Hicks.

Linking Anderson's fate to Indianapolis success is a wise course of action. I'm reminded of the budding relationship between Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Like Indianapolis, Pittsburgh is a relatively unknown success story and Youngstown is positioning itself to benefit from that growth. But readers here are probably less familiar with what is going on in the Hoosier State:

Between 2000 and 2007, the Indianapolis metropolitan area added 55,000 domestic migrants, equal to 3.6 percent of its 2000 population. No other Frost Belt metropolitan area comes close. Columbus and Kansas City had domestic migration gains, at 1.2 percent of their population. All other Frost Belt metropolitan areas lost domestic migrants. Indianapolis, however, would have ranked 17th out of the 32 largest Sun Belt metropolitan areas trailing Portland, but leading Seattle and Denver.

The distribution of domestic migration within the Indianapolis metropolitan area is also significant. For one-half century various analysts have predicted the decline of the suburbs. Indianapolis, like most metropolitan areas around the country, shows exactly the opposite: the suburbs continue to attract central city residents and have yet to fall into this seemingly inevitable decline.

While the Indianapolis metropolitan area gained 55,000 domestic migrants from 2000 to 2007, Marion County, the central county which is nearly co-existent with the central city of Indianapolis, lost 46,500 domestic migrants. All of the domestic migration growth was in the suburbs, which attracted 101,800 new residents from Indianapolis/Marion County and the rest of the nation.

I'd bet that the population gains for Indianapolis surprise most people. Further confounding expectations is the fact that Indiana does, by most credible accounts, suffer from a relatively large percentage of college graduates leaving the state. Robust rates of in-migration are a Rust Belt anomaly and Anderson doesn't see a glimmer of hope without the economic engine of Indianapolis.

For my Pittsburgh-Youngstown readers: The Indy suburb of Fishers finds a PA counterpart in Cranberry.