Dear Friend, 

Just-released first quarter 2011 numbers from RealtyTrac show that both the total number of foreclosures and the percentage of foreclosures to total housing in Pittsburgh are lower than every benchmark region except Baltimore.

The total number of jobs in the Pittsburgh region is up 18,200 from March 2010 -- the highest rate of growth of any region but Milwaukee. Pittsburgh had job growth rates of over 2 percent in the following sectors: Natural Resources, Mining, and Construction; Manufacturing; Wholesale Trade; Professional and Business Services; Education and Health Services; and Leisure and Hospitality.

Between March 2010 and March 2011, Pittsburgh's nonfarm job numbers increased by 1.65 percent.

Furthermore, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says absolute change in the unemployment rate was down 1.7 percent in February 2011 from 9.6 percent a year earlier.

And new BLS numbers also show that average weekly wages in Pittsburgh rose from $811 to $851 between the third quarter of 2009 and the third quarter of 2010. That's a 4.93 percent increase that bests all benchmark regions but Boston.

Finally, Regional Indicators and pittsburghtoday.org were featured in a West Virginia Public Broadcasting segment on March 31. Read and hear the report here.

Sincerely,

Doug Heuck

Program Director

PittsburghTODAY