Chris Briem (www.briem.com)

SEPTA says it will cut service if the Pa. legislature doesn’t act by Aug. 14. A new PA House bill increases transit funding with provisions to win GOP support as SEPTA sets an Aug. 14 deadline to avoid fare hikes and service cuts.

News: House Democrats have fast tracked yet another transportation funding bill, including accountability measures favored by Senate Republicans, as the deadline to avoid deep cuts to SEPTA and other transit agencies ticks down.
www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/08...

Also a good, if very very cursory, primer on the ES202 data.

www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf...

lehd.ces.census.gov/data/

But just to be clear,the census runs this site for the QWI data, but it is really just compiling and adding demographic data to the raw tax data provided by the state. Lots of explanation online to the LEHD system if you are interested.

There are other sources of labor force data, which for many known reasons are not perfectly consistent in exact levels due to measurement methodologies I don’t have space to explain here. But they are pretty consistent in trends.

But primarily I don’t really think city tax collection is as efficient as federal payroll taxes. That’s been my theory in part. Note also city tax does not cover as much of the workforce as payroll taxes which are nearly universal.

Going back decades I’ve never been able to reconcile that city tax with federal tax data. This data is compiled from ES202 federal payroll taxes primarily. But a large topic.

Just for the city bashers I'll update this. The latest unemployment rates in the Pittsburgh (showing not seasonally adjusted #'s because no SA numbers for the city are available).

Let’s update this. One remarkable observation remains. In this data, literally 100% of all net job growth in the entire Pittsburgh metropolitan region over the most recent decade is coming from jobs located in the City of Pittsburgh. Many believe the literal opposite.

Details… details…

Trying to make sense of today’s Pirates news? The end of the 29.5 year contract is getting closer.

Looking back at the East Liberty Image Study of 1982 that my predecessors worked on:
ucsur.pitt.edu/sites/defaul...

And the bulk of the real estate remains fallow.

CITY & CAST Pittsburgh Should Pittsburgh & Cleveland Be Friends? by City Cast Pittsburgh Orange background, skyline with bridges

What can Cleveland and Pittsburgh learn from each other? What would the two cities gain by teaming up as Cleveburgh?

In a new podcast, @chrisbriem.bsky.social—author of our forthcoming book “Beyond Steel”—considers the relationship between two iconic Rust Belt cities:

megaphone.link/CC6470937745

Technical foul to do this in summer.

You can take the Yinzers out of Pittsburgh, but you can’t take the Pittsburgh out of the Yinzers.

Behold - our newly adopted parking chair.

Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.

Want to know why demographers aren't panicking over low birth rates? @lesja.bsky.social, @shelleydclark.bsky.social, & I have a new piece in @theconversation.com explaining the faulty logic that underlies the low birth rate-induced population panic than fuels the pronatalism movement. 1/n

NEW CATALOG! 困 THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS FALL/WINTER 2025 CATALOG kentstateuniversitypress.com 玉 THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS With flames from industrial site on catalog cover.

Our fall catalog is here! Join us to:
📕anticipate new books (including titles by @chrisbriem.bsky.social and @terryallenbelew.bsky.social);
📕look back on 60 years of KSUP history; and
📕celebrate recent successes by @newsguy.bsky.social and others.
www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/wp-content/u...

My university has announced a fund to essentially poach doctoral students from US institutions. DM me if you do work on the history/social impacts of AI and are interested in being poached 😂

ICYMI: “Piracy on the Baseball Seas: How an Erie ballplayer became the inspiration for the Pittsburgh Pirates team name” #EriePA #PittsburghPA

www.eriereader.com/article/pira...

Manufacturing Employment as % of Total Nonfarm Jobs | Created with Datawrapper Pittsburgh MSA - January 1990 to May 2025

Just a little more reality check on yesterday. I haven't looked at this in a while, but in May the % of Pittsburgh region jobs in manufacturing dropped to 7.0% which is literally a new all-time (as in since anything named "Pittsburgh" has existed) low.
datawrapper.de/_/eTLSN/

Former Immaculate Conception Church site, Bloomfield, City of Pittsburgh.

I could be wrong, but I’d think there was a buyer expressing interest to spend $ on demolition. But given the local politics I see why they went ahead with this. What is next for the site?

Never has a nation tried to spend so much money to destroy itself.

The Chautauqua-Erie “Grape Belt.” From a 1919 marketing study by H.D. Phillips for Cornell University. #EriePA #LakeErie #GreatLakes

With the new airport terminal about to dominate the news cycle, maybe I'll start a thread about all things about the (Greater?) Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).

Sidebar: 'Greater' isn't part of the name any longer is it?

First off, who has flown on Allegheny Airlines?

CDC vaccine advisory committee to review long-approved immunizations A leader of the CDC's reconstituted vaccine advisory committee said the panel would start a review of long-approved shots.

News: The American Academy of Pediatrics says it will no longer take part in the process of ACIP meetings.

“We won’t lend our name or our expertise to a system that is being politicized at the expense of children’s health,” the group's president says.
www.statnews.com/2025/06/25/c...

Allegheny County, PA - Total Employment 2018Q1-2024Q4  | Created with Datawrapper Create interactive, responsive & beautiful charts — no code required.

Who recalls the incessant news cycle about Allegheny County losing 50K jobs between 2018 and 2023? It was coincidentally right before the ACE election. Did that loss continue? Looks like the county has recouped half of those jobs.
www.datawrapper.de/_/CLfNe/

Namdar actively looking to sell Pittsburgh Mills mall People wanting to buy and revamp the Pittsburgh Mills mall property in Frazer might finally have their chance. An email message apparently sent to some area realtors from mall owner Namdar Realty Grou...

'Actively' is doing a lot of work here. Anyways, when built Pittsburgh Mills used the largest Allegheny County TIF to date.

Trib: Namdar actively looking to sell Pittsburgh Mills mall
triblive.com/local/valley...

Total Nonfarm Jobs | Created with Datawrapper Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, January 2010 to May2025

New data: Pittsburgh MSA total nonfarm jobs (NSA) for May +7,500 over the month, about average seasonal increase. MSA jobs now 4,600 (-0.4%) below comparable May 2019 period before Covid.
www.datawrapper.de/_/3hJO3/?v=54

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