Pittsburgh experienced strong GDP growth despite little employment growth, says Guhan Venkatu, head of the Pittsburgh Branch of the Cleveland Fed
The Pittsburgh area’s per capita GDP grew at almost twice the pace of the state and the nation in 2014 (the latest available data), according to Guhan Venkatu, vice president and senior regional officer at the Pittsburgh Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Meanwhile, employment levels “have remained relatively flat from early 2012—when the area fully recovered the jobs that it had lost during the Great Recession—through the third quarter of 2015,” says Venkatu. “More recent data indicate that the area’s unemployment rate rose in March, from 5.0 percent to 5.5 percent. However, the initial estimate of a metro area’s unemployment rate is subject to several revisions, which collectively can be sizeable.”
Find more of Venkatu’s insights on economic conditions in the greater Pittsburgh area in our Pittsburgh Metro Mix.
And in case you missed them, check out these Forefront articles about the region served by the Cleveland Fed – Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that along with the Board of Governors in Washington DC comprise the Federal Reserve System. Part of the US central bank, the Cleveland Fed participates in the formulation of our nation’s monetary policy, supervises banking organizations, provides payment and other services to financial institutions and to the US Treasury, and performs many activities that support Federal Reserve operations System-wide. In addition, the Bank supports the well-being of communities across the Fourth Federal Reserve District through a wide array of research, outreach, and educational activities.
The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
Media contact
Doug Campbell, doug.campbell@clev.frb.org, 513.455.4479
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