A look at Philadelphia’s labor force: The data behind the demographics

As it turns out, the nickname “eds and meds” still fits quite aptly for Philadelphia.

Educational services jobs are almost 4.5 times higher in Philly compared to other services, according to a statistic that the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls “location quotient,” or LQ. Compared to its neighbors, that’s a higher concentration than DC, but lower than Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

Plus, Philadelphia houses more than 30 universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Drexel University. Multiple have large health systems, like the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University, not to mention all the life sciences and biotech companies that support the ecosystem.

While the city didn’t land a top healthcare workforce stat, unlike its Western counterpart Pittsburgh, Philly’s vast life, physical and social science workforce still fits that trend. That subset has the top LQ for tech-related occupation concentration in Philadelphia, with jobs like microbiologists and physicists making up a 1.15 LQ.

In fact, Philadelphia’s life sciences ecosystem is in the top 10 in the country for talent. Overall, hospitals and universities are anchor institutions in Philadelphia, supplying 13% of jobs for the region, according to a 2022 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Still, legal jobs are the most concentrated in the Philadelphia region. The LQ is 2.05, meaning it’s slightly more concentrated in Philly than the rest of the country, but it’s less concentrated than DC, which also has legal as its top occupation at an LQ of 6.71. 

These numbers may be impacted by the slowly changing local labor force. The number of employed residents in Philadelphia has increased over the last few years. 

Between 2018 and 2023, the number of employed residents went from 780,300 to 790,600, a marginal 1.3% increase. This number isn’t that high compared to cities like Austin and Nashville, which each grew about 19%. 

It certainly doesn’t help that Philadelphia lost around 43,000 jobs during the pandemic. The leisure and hospitality sector, jobs like food service employees and performers, bounced back quicker than education and health, which includes teachers and healthcare providers. 

However, Philadelphia is the only city of Technical.ly’s markets to experience growth in the total number of employed residents, with 10,300 more people in jobs. This data also projects Philly to grow 4.4% by 2028, showing consistent growth. 

Despite a growing number of employed people in the region, 35% of Philadelphia residents are not in the labor force. There are fewer residents in the workforce in Philly than in DC and Baltimore, but more than in Pittsburgh. The labor force participation rate, meaning the percentage of people who are employed or looking for work, is 65%. 

Of the people who are working in Philly, the average salary is $92,500. That’s higher than Pittsburgh but lower than Baltimore, DC and Wilmington. For context, to live comfortably in Philly, a single person should be making at least $46,000 per year.

While Philadelphia is more expensive than most of the country,  it’s considered a more affordable place to live compared to other East Coast cities like Boston, New York City and DC. 

After all, Philadelphia's affordability compared to other big cities is one of the reasons companies and founders come to the region.