Hammack meets community leaders, visits development project
President Beth Hammack visited Pittsburgh to meet with community leaders and tour an economic development project.
Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack visited Pittsburgh last week to meet with community and business leaders as a part of her Around the District tour of the region served by the Cleveland Fed.
At an event held at the Heinz History Center, Hammack connected with local community leaders including representatives from businesses, nonprofit organizations and the bank’s advisory councils.
President Beth Hammack thanks community leaders for the warm welcome to Pittsburgh at the Heinz History Center. (September 5, 2024)
President Beth Hammack speaks with Sabrina Saunders Mosby, a Community Advisory Council Member and the President and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh. (September 5, 2024)
Hammack shared how important stakeholder insights about the region’s business and community conditions are to the work of the Cleveland Fed.
The economy of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region has changed significantly over recent decades, due to major changes in manufacturing and the steel industry. Despite its industrial and steelmaking history, Pittsburgh’s largest industry is now education and health services.
According to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Pittsburgh region ranked last among the top 100 US metros in private-sector job growth since the fourth quarter of 2019, but the region’s 3.4 percent unemployment rate in July 2024 is well below the US average.1
Information provided by community stakeholders is added to the Fourth District’s section of the Federal Reserve System’s Beige Book, which provides qualitative information to complement data and analysis about the economy.
To learn about economic development efforts in the Pittsburgh area, Hammack visited the Pittsburgh International Airport’s Terminal Modernization Program.
According to the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which manages the Pittsburgh airport, the $1.57 billion Terminal Modernization Program will generate about $2.5 billion in regional economic activity. The Authority said the construction project has already created more than 14,000 construction and temporary jobs.
Learn more about the Cleveland Fed’s research on Pittsburgh.
Construction on the new terminal is expected to be completed in 2025. (September 6, 2024)
President Beth Hammack and First Vice President Mark Meder tour the Pittsburgh International Airport's Terminal Modernization Program. (September 6, 2024)
President Beth Hammack and Christina Cassotis, a Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch board member, discuss Cassotis' vision of the Terminal Modernization Program as a catalyst for economic development. Cassotis is the CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority which manages the Pittsburgh International Airport. (September 6, 2024)
From left to right, Nishan J. Vartanian, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch board member; Russ Mills, senior regional officer, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch; Vera Krekanova, Chair, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch board; Cleveland Fed First Vice President Mark Meder; Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack; Sanjay Chopra, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch board member; Theresa Polachek, Cleveland Fed vice president of communications; Ed Knotek, Cleveland Fed research director; Drew Pack, senior regional outreach manager, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch; Christina Cassotis, Cleveland Fed Pittsburgh branch board member and CEO of the Allegheny County Airport on a tour of the Terminal Modernization Program's construction site. (September 6, 2024)
About President Beth M. Hammack’s Around the District tour
President Hammack is visiting communities across the Fourth District as part of her Around the District tour to meet and connect with the people who live and work in all corners of the region and to gain a better understanding of how the economy is working in different communities. The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Hammack will use this information to inform her policy views and better represent the Fourth District around the Federal Open Market Committee table.
Footnotes
- Data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW): https://www.bls.gov/cew/. Job growth estimated using change in private-sector employment from QCEW from fourth quarter 2019 to fourth quarter 2023. Top 100 metros estimated using private employment in fourth quarter 2023. Return to 1
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Rust and Renewal: A Pittsburgh Retrospective
This retrospective report evaluates the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area's economic performance and the importance of manufacturing in the region from 1969 to the present.
Fourth District Beige Book
Released eight times a year, the Beige Book is a report of regional economic conditions in the US that each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks prepares for their respective Districts. The Fourth District Beige Book focuses on Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
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Beth M. Hammack
Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System.
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