Pennsylvania

In 1976 Pittsburgh's municipal population was up over 800,000 - then the steel mills stopped hiring. Then the mills started laying everybody off, then they closed. Now in 2018 our city population is hovering near 300,000. Some of the population loss can surely be explained by white flight to the suburbs. However most of the loss is due to the exit of good jobs, forcing entire families to leave the area.

Maybe our unemployment stats match the numbers from 1976, but so what? How can we celebrate a population loss of almost 2/3 of our families, friends and neighbors, who were paying taxes and voting here?

Other PA cities were also hit in the last 40 years but Pittsburgh saw the worst of it. We can't keep losing our PA industries and major employers. We need more government leadership in the creation of new jobs.