Where is the Work, and Where is the Worker? by Ron Painter

Click to hear Ron Painter, CEO of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, explain the important of human capital for businesses looking to develop in a region

The 2008 Road to Excellence Conference entitled "Putting Intergovernmental Cooperation to Work: Employing Multi-Municipal Planning to Link Communities and Conserve Costs" was sponsored by Comcast and offered in partnership with Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board. Ron spoke on the consequences of the trend in development where residential, commercial, and office developments were spread over the southwest Pennsylvania region, separating where people live and where they work.

Ron explained the classic economic equation of land+labor+capital = the cost of our doing business. He said that in this age, talent, or human capital, is the most important part of the equation. Companies search for talent, making the location where they choose to do business very important. Therefore, it is important for Pennsylvania and the southwest Pennsylvania region to educate, train, and retrain our labor force. Ron noted that PA commits about $20 million of general revenue dollars for incumbent worker training, making the state a national leader in talent development.

Listen to Ron note that the southwest PA region has more people over the age of 65 and less under the age of 18 than the benchmark city average, which are those cities with comparable industries to southwest PA

The aging of the workforce in the region is also important. The region has more people over the age of 65 and less under the age of 18 than the benchmark city average. Benchmark cities are those that have similar industries as southwest PA. These regions compete with southwest PA for talented workers as well as industry and development.

Click to hear Ron explain that the migration of workers in, out, and within the region affects the region's ability to retain workers, especially younger workers

Ron reminded participants that a major issue for PA and the region is workforce retention, particularly the retention of younger workers. Migration in, out, and within the region affects workforce retention. People within the region tend to stay in one neighborhood for long periods of time, but more people are leaving than coming into the region. Ron explained that people, especially younger people, like the density of cities, and that Pittsburgh needs to consider density in all of the development decisions we make. He also reminded participants that 40% of the PhDs and scientists working in the U.S. are foreign-born, and that immigration is important to workforce development. The United States and PA needs to compete internationally as well as domestically for the most talented workers.

Listen to Ron speak about the consequences of sprawl and spatial mismatch, explaining that available jobs are not always located where the workers who would fill those jobs actually live, making commuting difficult, expensive, and nearly impossible for some workers

Ron explained that suburbanization and decentralization of job sites leads to urban sprawl, where more land is being consumed for development and existing jobs may be moved around the region instead of new jobs coming in. The region will be better off if more people are coming in and more net jobs are created. Ron asked the question, "Where is the work, and where is the worker?” People are commuting out of their home communities for work because the jobs that exist there often do not match the skills, education, and salary requirements of the residents. This decreases quality of life by adding to traffic congestion, because suburban jobs are spread along major transportation corridors. This can necessitate having a workforce that drives, making hiring and retaining workers more difficult in these areas. This phenomenon is called “spatial mismatch”, where the jobs that many low-income workers would fill are located in the suburbs, far from their homes in the urban core. This makes commuting difficult and expensive for many workers. Pittsburgh, however, is a city that has a high number of jobs in the city, in fact, the count is higher than many comparable cities.

Click to hear Ron explain how intergovernmental cooperation can be used to create of good jobs, improve access to these jobs through infrastructure and multi-modal transportation, and create affordable housing

Addressing the mismatch between “where is the work and where is the worker” involves intergovernmental cooperation for the creation of good jobs, improved access to these jobs through infrastructure and multi-modal transportation, and affordable housing. Many low-income workers do not drive and rely on public transportation, which is a major problem for suburban employers who cannot attract these workers. Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board can help with economic development project assessment, so that communities can minimize spatial mismatch.

Click to view the 2008 Road to Excellence Conference Handout Booklet