South Hills Diversity

Today's Post-Gazette special section on Diversity in the Pittsburgh region Foolishly, the content is not available in searchable form, and equally foolishly, it is presented in a Flash container that prevents cutting-and-pasting, i.e., that makes quoting in blogs a little more difficult.) includes a profile of Lebo neighbor Scott Township, which somewhat unexpectedly has become a beachhead for South Asian immigration. "The 1,543 foreign-born residents in this hilly suburb now comprise 8.9 percent of the population, a higher percentage than any other town or municipality in the metropolitan area, and the 891 Asian Indians here are by far the dominant group, accounting for 5.2 percent of the town, according to the U.S. Census Bureau." The article starts on page 6. Another neat point:

Scott's unexpected status as immigrant beachhead does provide hope that metropolitan Pittsburgh can shed its label as one of the least international big cities in America. Its drop from melting pot status began after 1940, when the foreign-born population peaked at more than 12 percent and then continuously fell, hit a low of 2.4 percent in 1990 before inching up to 2.6 percent by 2000, the first increase in at least 50 years. It rose some more, to 3 percent, by 2004, but that increase was still the lowest among the nation's top 25 metro areas, trailing such places as Denver, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.

The reason Pittsburgh's immigration rate is so alarming to followers of the local economy is what it portends: slow growth. As Pittsburgh's work force grows older and in need of replacement and as the region continues to lose population [but see Briem, above], economic development experts predict that an area unattractive to immigrants will have a hard time filling positions if the economy grows at even a marginal rate the next 10 to 20 years.

Author Gregg Zachary, who studied Pittsburgh's immigration challenges and last year reported on diversity in American cities, concluded Pittsburgh's pro-immigrant groups "are languishing, if not defeated." Civic leaders "have done little to tackle the widespread sense among foreigners that Pittsburgh is not an attractive destination."