PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia is making an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts finds a number of challenges that could push it off track again.
First the good news: The city’s unemployment rate dropped steadily last year.
“The year ended in December 2021 at a 5.8% unemployment rate, which is the same unemployment rate Philadelphia had in February 2019,” Pew senior manager Katie Martin said.
And looking ahead, Martin says the number of residential building permits skyrocketed last year to more than 26,000 — a 361% increase. That’s mostly because the city’s 10-year tax abatement program expired at the end of the year, but Martin says it’s still a good sign.
“It really does show a major increase in confidence in the Philadelphia real estate market, with developers wanting to take advantage of the 10-year tax abatement before it expired,” she said.
Before the pandemic, Philadelphia was in the midst of unprecedented growth; now it’s in a more vulnerable position.
So, here’s the bad news: City finances look shaky, long-term, given projections that 15% of commuters won’t return to city offices after their work lives were shaken up by two years of pandemic mitigation.
Jobs in education and health are roaring back, but job growth overall still lags behind the national average.
Historically high homicide rates and record overdose deaths are shading residents’ views of their quality of life. For the first time in 16 years, Philadelphia lost population last year.
And then there is the ongoing growth in violent crime. The Pew report shows the outsize role of guns. Major crimes such as rape, assault and robbery are actually down, but the number of crimes committed with guns is up dramatically.
One measurement Pew uses to illustrate the problem comes from a survey that found 65% of Philadelphians heard gunshots in their neighborhood last year, with even higher percentages for Black and Hispanic residents.
Martin says while there are many positive signs that the city is coming back from the pandemic, the underlying issues cannot be ignored.