Blair County's Competitive Economic Advantage

Abstract

The demographic and economic characteristics of Blair County, Pennsylvania, are compared with the entire state of Pennsylvania. The age distribution of the working population of Blair County is similar to Pennsylvania’s. Blair County, however, has a lower percentage than Pennsylvania of people over 25 years old who have some college education and postgraduate education, even though the density of higher education institutions is roughly the same in Blair County as in all of Pennsylvania.

Blair County hourly earnings and per capita income are lower, and the percentage of children living in poverty is greater, than in the Commonwealth in general. Blair County’s population is less likely to be foreign–born, but is more likely to be disabled, than the population in the Commonwealth. Most of the migration in and out of Blair County is to and from surrounding counties.

Ten industries are identified that: Are concentrated - Employed a higher proportion of total Blair County workers in 2008 than the proportion of industry employment in the nation; Are growing - Employed more Blair County workers in 2008 than in 2005; Grow jobs competitively - Created more Blair County jobs between 2005 and 2008 than can be accounted for by the general rate of job growth in the nation and the industry’s own growth rate in the entire nation; and are substantial - Employed more than 200 workers in 2008.

These industries included: paper manufacturing; warehousing & storage; food manufacturing; waste management & remediation services; miscellaneous manufacturing; building material & garden supply stores; general merchandise stores; social assistance; miscellaneous store retailers; and sporting goods, hobby, book, & music stores.

The major regional suppliers and customers in Blair County are listed which form the business-to-business markets for these ten industries. Then, the ten industries were ranked on the following five factors that impact the well-being of Blair County residents and their community: National employment growth - Establishments in industries with national employment growth more likely to expand and create new jobs than establishments in flat or declining industries. Indicates robust product market at general level. Average establishment size - Industries with larger average establishment employment have greater potential for substantial job creation than establishments with lower average employment. Ratio of average wages in region to nation - Other industry characteristics held constant, higher wage opportunities in an industry induce higher impacts on the regional - Local tax revenue per worker - The local fiscal impact of an industry is related to (a) the industry’s contribution to revenues through property taxes paid and (b) public expenditures through increased services required by the industry’s employees. This indicator scales the local revenue generated by an industry by the number of workers employed, which demonstrates the per capita worker contribution to the purchase of public goods and services.

Ripple effect on income - Income is created throughout a region when an industry’s employees spend their income in, for instance, retail establishments and restaurants. Some industries produce a larger “ripple effect” on regional compensation of employees and income to proprietors than other industries.

The resulting rankings: 1 - paper manufacturing; 2 - warehousing & storage; 3 - food manufacturing 4 - waste management & remediation services; 5 - miscellaneous manufacturing; 6 - building material & garden supply stores; 7 - general merchandise stores; 8 - social assistance 9 - miscellaneous store retailers; 10 - sporting goods, hobby, book, & music stores.

Keywords: Altoona, Pennsylvania, Development, Competitiveness, Regional Economics