Pittsburgh Works Together presents plan to create jobs, business in Pennsylvania
Rick Shrum/Observer-Reporter
Ken Zapinski
Jeff Nobers
Jeff Kotula
Pennsylvania continues to lose too many jobs and too many people.
Pittsburgh Works Together unveiled a plan Thursday called the Pennsylvania Opportunity Agenda to combat the crisis with an eye toward the 2022 state budget and gubernatorial election.
Speaking Thursday were Jeff Nobers, Pittsburgh Works Together executive director, Ken Zapinski, head of research and public policy for Pittsburgh Works Together, and Pittsburgh Works Together board member Jeff Kotula, president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Pittsburgh Works Together – an alliance of unions and business and civic leaders – was launched about two years ago.
“We have a primary goal,” Nobers said. “That’s to make sure that every industry has its fair shot to be represented in the economy of the greater Pittsburgh region and to create opportunities for people to have good-paying, no-class jobs that don’t necessarily require having four-year degrees.”
Pittsburgh Works Together polled about 600 voters throughout Pennsylvania in February and found that most agreed with the organization’s assessment of the commonwealth’s crisis mode.
“Business as usual is not going to cut it in our state,” said Nobers, a Washington County resident. “People believe we need bold moves to grow our way out of the economic mess that we’re in. Without a stronger economy providing more opportunities for residents and tax revenue for the state, people overwhelmingly believe that we will not have the resources to address health care, education, public safety or other quality of life issues.”
A prevailing theme Thursday was that Pennsylvania can’t afford to just be as good as other states in creating jobs, but it has to be better.
“We’re losing out a lot in what we’re trying to do to attract manufacturers to Pennsylvania,” Kotula said. “We’re losing in manufacturing. We need to increase that and move forward. We need to have a common-sense way to start investing in industrial properties within Pennsylvania.”
Kotula said half of the inquiries made last year by businesses looking to move into Washington County were industrial or looking for flexible space.
“Right now in our county, we’re lacking that,” he said, adding progress is being made with the Fort Cherry Development District in Robinson Township and the Hardy World property in Bentleyville. “That’s not enough. We need to continue to invest in industrial and flexible properties to ensure that we can entertain those inquiries that come in and have a great location for manufacturers to build and work in.”
Pennsylvania is currently tied for 22nd in the country with Wisconsin as far as a state’s attractiveness to business in rankings by Site Selection magazine released in November.
A look at manufacturing jobs shows many states have had much more significant growth in that area than Pennsylvania. In the five years before the pandemic, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana combined to add more than 66,000 manufacturing jobs. Pennsylvania lost 300. Pennsylvania also ranks near the bottom in manufacturing job recovery since the pandemic.
“Pennsylvania is facing a lack of opportunity for people across the commonwealth,” Zapinski said.
Zapinski presented the Pennsylvania Opportunity Agenda, geared toward providing opportunities for more jobs by attracting new business.
Suggestions include, but are not limited to, reducing the 9.9% corporate tax rate (the second highest in the country), streamlining and improving the state’s permitting process, supporting training for new careers, advancing energy policies that make economic sense, ensuring reliable supply and respecting the environment, and making sure the world knows about Pennsylvania.
“The next governor needs to be the top salesman for the state,” Zapinski said. “We need the new governor to aggressively promote the new Pennsylvania to manufacturers and other industries and embrace new businesses.”