Commentary: Get in the mix / Pittsburgh can find opportunity in challenges
Share with others:
Vibrant regions understand the connection among the growth of creative knowledge-intensive industries, talent and diversity. Research shows that these three components are common factors in regions and communities that have enjoyed high levels of sustained growth and economic competitiveness. Moreover, professionals between the ages of 24 and 40 have an expectation, perhaps even a requirement, that their surrounding environment not only offer a breadth of income-earning choices but also a comfortable acceptance and engagement of difference.
According to the 2010 Census, diversity was a major contributor to the nation's population growth. In a recent Brookings Institute report, demographer William Frey reported that minorities accounted for 98 percent of the population growth in the nation's largest metropolitan areas over the past decade. Hispanics and Asians contributed to the majority of growth in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, growing by 41 percent and 43 percent respectively.
This national demographic trend is resulting in a workforce that is more than 30 percent minority and rising. Those areas that will emerge in these highly competitive and uncertain times will be those regions capable of attracting and effectively engaging diverse workers.
The Pittsburgh region, after more than 20 years of economic and environmental renaissances, is in a position to showcase its assets to men and women seeking a place where opportunity, diversity and welcoming culture converge. As one newcomer, Farouk Dey with Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview for the Vibrant Pittsburgh blog: "Pittsburgh offers our family everything we want from a large city in addition to a manageable and enjoyable lifestyle."
To realize our region's full potential, there are critical challenges that we must address. Pittsburgh is the second-least diverse metro area of the nation's top 100 cities and has one of the lowest foreign-born populations among the top 100 cities. The population death rate exceeds its birth rate, the workforce is aging and the region has only recently begun to generate a net in-migration of people.
First Published October 27, 2011 12:00 am
