April 05, 2017
Philadelphia's job market remains "strong," adding 22,400 new positions between February 2016 and February 2017, according to the latest economic report from the city controller's office.
But a new "April Workforce Report" from LinkedIn helps fill in some of the details about where local businesses are hiring; which skills appear to be in abundance and which are scarce; and where Philadelphia is gaining and losing workers.
Not including farm employment, Philadelphia recorded 712,500 more jobs in February, a 3.2 increase over the 690,100 recorded last February, according to the controller's economic report.
The city fared best in the eds and meds markets, where it has historically found the highest rate of growth. Here's a breakdown of the top five sectors where jobs were added during the past year:
• Education & Health Services: 11,900
• Leisure & Hospitality: 4,100
• Professional & Business Services: 2,600
• Government: 1,700
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities: 1,500
Two industries that saw decreases in the last year were manufacturing and financial activities, which saw declines of 300 and 100, respectively.
LinkedIn's "April Workforce Report" found hiring fell by 1.15 percent in March 2017 compared to the previous year. Seasonally-adjusted hiring was 3.7 percent lower in March than February.
The 10 most abundant skills in Philadelphia – which means the supply of potential employees with these skills exceeds the demand by employers – are as follows, according to the social networking site:
1. Pharmaceutical
2. Healthcare Management
3. Medical and Healthcare
4. Clinical Trial
5. Chemistry
6. Life Sciences
7. General Finance
8. Nursing
9. Database and Direct Marketing
10. SAP ERP Systems
Conversely, Philadelphia has a scarcity of the following skills:
1. Radio Broadcasting
2. TV & Video Production
3. Photography
4. Marketing Event Management
5. Politics
6. Aviation
7. C/C++
8. Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
9. Multilingual
10. Social Media Marketing
Over the past 12 months, Philadelphia gained the greatest number of workers from State College, Allentown and Scranton. The city lost the greatest number of workers to the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Gross migration, a measure of gains plus losses, was highest between Philadelphia and New York City.
The city's non-seasonal unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percent to 6.2 percent, about 2 percent higher than the average in neighboring Pennsylvania counties.
Philadelphia's tax revenues notably fell by 13 percent over last February, with the city bringing in $466.4 million. The drop comes despite the implementation of the sugary beverages tax, whose revenues have outpaced the city's projections in its first few months. General Fund tax revenues came to $1.8 billion, or $51 million below the city's projections.
"The lower-than-expected revenue is due to issues with the Department of Revenue’s payment processing system causing a delay in Real Estate Tax revenues to be posted in February," city controller Alan Butkovitz wrote.
A recent report from the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia touted the city's 10-year real estate tax abatement, a program initiated in 2000, as a source of new tax revenue for the city. Property values, however, both residential and commercial, have been undergoing a major adjustment under the city's Actual Value Initiative, a new assessment model whose implementation has been in progress for the past few years.
Philadelphia home sales increased by 4 percent compared to last February, reaching 976 in February 2016. The highest number of sales came in neighborhoods across South Philadelphia, followed by Fishtown and Port Richmond.
