Rust Belt state, particularly in a year of presiden-
tial politicking, but that’s so last century. “The
term is obsolete,” says economist Matthew Knittel,
director of the state’s Independent Fiscal Office.
While the steel industry experienced a decline
in the late 1970s and ’80s that dealt Pennsylvania
a blow, 40 years later Pennsylvania’s economy
is thriving. Unemployment is the lowest it’s been
since 1976 and jobs are at an all-time high. Wage
growth is strong, and with the passage of the
2019–20 budget in June, the state, which callsitself the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, made
the largest contribution to its emergency fund in
20 years. And the economy has become far more
diverse over the past few decades.
“The sense of possibility around parts of the
Pennsylvania economy right now is stronger than
in the last 25 years,” says economist Stephen
Herzenberg, executive director of the nonparti-
san Keystone Research Center, which houses the
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.
Governor Tom Wolf, who took office in JanuarySPONSORED CONTENT
...Occasionally you may hear Pennsylvania referred to as aINNOVATION DRIVES
THE NEXT GENERATION
OF ENTREPRENEURS
AT ACCELERATORS
SUCH AS PENNOVATION
WORKS.
Old labels die hard.