Top stats to know about Pittsburgh’s labor force: How the region stacks up

In Pittsburgh, the two biggest jobs you’ll run into are in education or healthcare — and that’s not just anecdotal. 

No surprise given the quantity and quality of academic institutions here, but the latest data Bureau of Labor Statistics confirm that educational services, which comprises schools, colleges, universities, and training centers, has an outsized concentration in Pittsburgh.

That’s not unusual in the region. Education also ranks highly for what economists call “location quotient” (or LQ) in Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC. 

What’s different in Pittsburgh is the strength of that concentration. The LQ of 6.06 means the educational service industry is six times more concentrated in the region than in the rest of the country. The next highest, Philly, is only 4.45.

Few other regions, however, compare to Pittsburgh’s prowess in healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, a category that includes a wide swath of medical professionals. 

While there’s only a slightly higher share of healthcare workers in the area compared to the national numbers, the category doesn’t show up as a top sector in Philly, Baltimore or DC. 

So if you feel like you’re seeing UPMC workers everywhere, you’re probably right. The medical facilities fall under that category of occupations and consistently land within the top 20 companies hiring workers in the region, according to Technical.ly’s Tech Economy Dashboard. 

But despite the many economic institutions looking to revitalize the area, workers may not be there to make it happen. 

Over the past five years, the number of Pittsburgh region residents who are employed fell nearly 7%, from around 320,200 to 299,500. That number is projected to dip another fraction of a percent by 2028. 

There are opportunities for that to change, though.

About one in four adults who could be in the workforce don’t currently participate. It’s slightly more than the other cities we cover, Philly, Baltimore and DC. 

Workforce development organizations certainly are doing their part to get more Pittsburgh residents into jobs, and the earnings potential could be high. 

The average median salary in Pittsburgh is $91,800 — pretty good compared to other cities when you consider that Philly makes $92,500 with a 5% higher cost of living, according to NerdWallet. 

Tech and innovation could be the areas that provides that opportunity. In that sector, the workforce numbers hold steady, with more than 62,000 jobs in 2023, according to CompTIA. Pittsburgh, it seems, just needs to keep making that investment.