Feb 26, 2015 By Suzanne Elliott 2 min read

Nearly 60 percent of all moves in Greater Pittsburgh are people who are moving into the region, not the other way around.

“We have a higher concentration of young people with advanced degrees than the Silicon Valley,” said Bill Flanagan, executive vice president of community development for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

“We also have 100,000 more people working than we did at the peak of the steel industry in 1979,” said Flanagan, the featured speaker at the Peters Township and the South West Communities Chambers of Commerce Economic Forecast luncheon Tuesday at the Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe

Flanagan said the Allegheny Conference was formed in 1944 with a four-fold mission: getting rid of the region’s smoky skies, improving water quality, controlling flooding and urban redevelopment. That same year, discussions began about putting a fountain at what is now Point State Park.

“By 1974, the fountain was finally turned on,” he said. “Allegheny County became the first county in the United States to regulate air quality.”

Then, the domestic steel industry collapsed and no area of the country was hit harder than Western Pennsylvania, Flanagan said, adding that 20 percent – 250,000 – of all jobs in the region were lost. By 1983, the area unemployment rate reached 18 percent. He said 250,000, mostly young people, left the area in order to find work.

Then, the economy began to diversify and was no longer dependent on one industry, he said. Jobs were being created in the health care, energy and in the financial services industries.

“If one sector gets squeezed now, it won’t bring down the entire economy,” Flanagan said.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank, part of the country’s central banking system, the region’s commercial real estate industry will be strong in 2015. That activity will prompt demand for commercial and industrial loans.

Still, there are almost 25,000 available jobs in Greater Pittsburgh, but not enough skilled workers available to fill those positions. The energy industry, which has been hampered recently by falling oil prices, especially needs skilled workers, he said. In the coming years, 140,000 of these jobs will need to be filled.

“The biggest challenge for us is the delivery of a skilled workforce,” Flanagan said. “There are 14 different occupations in energy that we can’t replace. We are also going to need to replace the baby boomers who will be retiring.”