Seasonal jobs returned to the Pittsburgh area in April, but a return to a pre-pandemic economy remains elusive, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area with seven counties created 15,200 jobs from March to April 2021 – an increase of 1.4 percent, according to the BLS.
“It’s the seasonal growth that is expected,” said Chris Briem, a regional economist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.
The increase of 15,000 jobs roughly corresponds to the average change in non-seasonally adjusted jobs that the region has experienced each year over the past ten years.
“Is that good or bad? It’s good that we see these normal seasonal profits – it looks like part of the economy is working,” Briem said Onset of COVID have lost. We’re not making up any ground. “
Much of this growth has been concentrated in the construction, leisure and hospitality industries, which typically see spikes in new hires in the spring. Employers in the construction industry created 6,500 jobs between March and April – an increase of 11.6 percent compared to the previous month. The jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry rose by 4.4 percent during this period.
The financial activities, professional and business services, information and education, and health sectors saw modest increases over the past month. But monthly job losses also had to be recorded in the manufacturing, transport, utilities and wholesale sectors in April.
“The things that you expect seasonal gains are us, but the baseline seems pretty flat since the fall,” said Briem. “We’re just not there yet.”
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