Local Group Says Economy Good in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance on Tuesday released data that they say shows economic gains for the region.

Speaking at a meeting held in downtown Pittsburgh, Dennis Yablonsky of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development said there were 272 new development deals in the 10 county Southwestern Pennsylvania region that generated about $1.5 billion in capital investment. With those developments come the promise of more than 20,000 new jobs although according to Labor and Industry statistics, only 4,000 new jobs were created last year.

"The labor and industry statistics are jobs that have been created up until this point. These job numbers are projected job numbers. So when a company says we're gonna do an expansion project, we're gonna add 40 jobs and spend a million dollars in capital, those jobs may be created over the next one, two or three years," said Yablonsky.

The Regional Alliance keeps track of projected job gains from year to year but does not follow up to see if those predictions proved to be accurate.