The Pittsburgh region saw 274 corporations publicly announce expansion projects last year. A third of those announcements were by outside companies interested in locating in the area comprised of the city and 10 surrounding counties.

The interest gave the metro area a top ranking in the northeast and placed it fourth in 15 benchmark regions nationwide.

Allegheny Conference on Community Development CEO Dennis Yablonsky said there is another interesting component of that statistic when he addressed members of the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce in West Mifflin on Friday — most of those expansions are in the advanced manufacturing sector.

“Pittsburgh continues to be one of the more attractive places for corporations to expand,” Yablonsky said. “The jobs we're creating are higher paying than average. Forty-three percent of the people that work in this region work in jobs that are high pay. The national average for major metro (areas) is about 37 percent and our numbers continue to get better.”

Yablonsky said the region is becoming “younger and better educated.” He said about 20,000 available jobs in the region pay family-sustaining wages but are unfilled for a variety of reasons.

The reformation of the area's legacy industries, growth in the medical sector, expansion of the “knowledge economy,” and a strong presence of charitable foundations have helped Pittsburgh recover from the loss of big steel, Yablonsky said, but challenges persist.

“Our business told us last year ... they can't find enough people with the right skills to fill their job openings,” he said.

An aging population that stays in the workforce longer and a lack of workers with the right skills to fill the available positions are reasons for some jobs remaining unfilled, Yablonsky said.

He said a lack of diversity among the population generally makes the region less attractive to young people who “want to live, work and play in an integrated, diverse, inclusive environment.”

“If you want to attract young people to your company, then your community needs to be diverse,” he said.

Yablonsky said the region needs to address infrastructure problems and economic disparity if it is to recover fully.

The challenges the Port Vue native listed set the stage for comments made next at the luncheon by Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development acting secretary Dennis Davin.

Davin, former director of the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, said Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed $30 billion budget focuses on improving jobs, education and government, and the DCED will play an important part in achieving those initiatives.

Davin said the governor's plan to reduce corporate income tax by half will make the state more attractive to businesses interested in locating here. He said the governor wants to eliminate the corporate stock and franchise tax and close loopholes that allow corporations to avoid state taxes by setting up holding companies in Delaware, which has no corporate tax. He said the governor's plan calls for reducing property taxes and improving schools, as well.

Davin said small businesses will get support under the proposed budget, which would put $100 million toward the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority.

PIDA funds help small, medium and some large businesses acquire capital to grow, he said.

The proposed budget would restore $25 million in funding for the Pennsylvania First program, which helps secure high-impact economic development jobs.

The budget would provide $5 million for the state's Industrial Resource Center's Manufacturing Initiative to use state research universities to advance manufacturing, Davin said.

The budget would dedicate $10 million for labor and industry partnerships that would help businesses meet and identify common needs in terms of workforce training.

Davin said the governor's budget would restore funding to the Keystone Communities program, which was cut to $6.1 million last year. He said the new budget would bring funding for that program back to $21 million.

“That is going to help your communities. That is going to help your business districts,” Davin said. “I really see great opportunities here.”

The luncheon was attended by local, county and state leaders.

In a discussion session after the addresses, Homestead Mayor Betty Esper asked Davin to keep state funding in place for the Steel Valley Enterprise Zone because she said business interest in the Steel Valley is peaking.

“All these people have come in and toured the area and are interested,” Esper said.

Davin said the budget provides funding for the enterprise zone.

Mon Yough Area Chamber president Maury Burgwin asked Davin and other state officials to make funding for the incomplete Mon/Fayette Expressway a priority.

“We have almost 1,000 acres of almost contiguous riverfront property (in the Mon Valley). It has river. It has rail. What we don't have is dedicated highway access,” Burgwin said.

If the last section of the road was completed from Route 43 to the Parkway East, he said, development along the river probably could produce 25,000 jobs.

Eric Slagle is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.

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