U.S. Census Bureau figures informed Pittsburghers Wednesday that our seven-county area was second only to New Orleans among U.S. metropolitan areas in population loss since 2000.

Reasons given were, first, lack of international immigration to the area and, second, an excess of deaths over births. Our population is the oldest among cities of comparable size in the country.

The news hits everyone -- business, civic, state and local community leaders -- working to promote the area. We must continue to try to make the tide flow the other way, but, unfortunately, the numbers are now on the record and indisputable. In that sense we join Cleveland, Buffalo, Youngstown, Scranton, Dayton, Toledo, Rochester and Syracuse -- along with New Orleans -- in sharing the dour distinction of being a place where more people leave, vertically or horizontally, than come.

What is to be done about it? It is the truth that medical care is advancing apace in Pittsburgh with the likely result that people will live longer, thus slowing down deaths here, although the impact of that phenomenon on the overall regional economy is ambiguous.

So the real area to apply our efforts is the immigration piece. Immigrants come to an area for jobs and income possibilities, and because they find a city or a region to be a welcoming environment. The jobs part is key, and seems to be understood by all southwestern Pennsylvania leaders to be a very high priority concern.

Many elements go into defining the environment part of the equation. We look pretty decent on paper with the new convention center (in spite of the hole in it), the coming casino, the new hockey arena, the evergreen Steelers and, at the risk of jinxing them, perhaps even a winning baseball team this year.

On the negative side we have the city's and the region's still primitive approach to efficiency in government, with our boroughs and local officials lined up at the trough to slurp up what remain very high, wide and varied taxes collected eagerly by municipal governments, schools and Pennsylvania. Continued southwestern Pennsylvania resistance to consolidation of government is not a charming feature of local life; it is a backward approach to government -- and the taxation that goes with it -- that discourages anyone looking to live here.

Will the Census Bureau's delivery of the unpleasant truth about people leaving wake anyone up? We doubt it, given that those who would have to change the lineup are the very people who profit from it. But we have to hope. Continued population loss helps none of us.