One of the things I lament about living in Philadelphia is the relative lack of good barbecue. With a very few exceptions, almost all of them run by emigres from the nation's great barbecue regions, what passes for good barbecue in Philadelphia would get laughed off the plate in my native Kansas City, where barbecue is a civic religion.
From what I've been reading of late, my taste for barbecue is going to be sated over the next several months. The problem is, it won't be smoked spareribs or brisket on my plate. It will be the region's economic recovery, which, by the most recent account, will be "low and slow."
In mid-October, Philadelphia Inquirer business reporter Mike Armstrong reported in his PhillyInc blog that Select Greater Philadelphia's index of leading indicators predicts essentially flat growth over the next six to nine months. Moreover, he wrote, forecaster IHS Global Insight predicts that employment in the region will not return to its pre-2008-crash peak until sometime in 2013.
What that means for many of us is that competition for good jobs will remain fierce for some time to come.
Yet some national figures from the Labor Department suggest that the economy will grow a little less sluggishly - perhaps a rate of 2 to 3 percent annually for the next few years, hardly enough to generate enough jobs to absorb the surplus labor pool but better than nothing. Those figures are somewhat better than what was being reported in August, which is the latest month for which Select Greater Philadelphia has data available.
Might this region also be coming back a little less slowly than August's data suggest? Only Select Greater Philadelphia knows the answer to that. I'm willing to spend all day waiting for good barbecued spareribs; I hope that it won't take two years before that economic recovery platter is done.
While the local economy is slow-smoking, light a fire under your job search by visiting PhillyJobs.com.
From what I've been reading of late, my taste for barbecue is going to be sated over the next several months. The problem is, it won't be smoked spareribs or brisket on my plate. It will be the region's economic recovery, which, by the most recent account, will be "low and slow."
In mid-October, Philadelphia Inquirer business reporter Mike Armstrong reported in his PhillyInc blog that Select Greater Philadelphia's index of leading indicators predicts essentially flat growth over the next six to nine months. Moreover, he wrote, forecaster IHS Global Insight predicts that employment in the region will not return to its pre-2008-crash peak until sometime in 2013.
What that means for many of us is that competition for good jobs will remain fierce for some time to come.
Yet some national figures from the Labor Department suggest that the economy will grow a little less sluggishly - perhaps a rate of 2 to 3 percent annually for the next few years, hardly enough to generate enough jobs to absorb the surplus labor pool but better than nothing. Those figures are somewhat better than what was being reported in August, which is the latest month for which Select Greater Philadelphia has data available.
Might this region also be coming back a little less slowly than August's data suggest? Only Select Greater Philadelphia knows the answer to that. I'm willing to spend all day waiting for good barbecued spareribs; I hope that it won't take two years before that economic recovery platter is done.
While the local economy is slow-smoking, light a fire under your job search by visiting PhillyJobs.com.
By Sandy Smith
Sandy Smith is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his career in public relations and corporate communications. His work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, PGN, and a number of Web sites. Philly-area residents may also recognize him as "MarketStEl" of discussion-board fame. He has been a part of the great reserve army of freelance writers since January 2009 and is actively seeking opportunities wherever they may lie.
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