The Creative Class, Jobs, and Lancaster

Richard Florida just released his latest post in an ongoing series on job growth in the U.S. through 2018. While most of his article focuses on raw data and large population regions, I thought I might take a few moments to analyze what it all could mean for the future of Lancaster PA.

Map Credit: Zera Matheson, Martin Prosperity Institute

According to the analysis conducted by the Martin Prosperity Institute of the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Lancaster County is projected to add between 1,500 and 100,000 jobs by 2018. This would be an 8-10% growth in jobs overall.

Map Credit: Zera Matheson, Martin Prosperity Institute

The service class will grow between 764 and 50,000 jobs over the next eight years, with a percentage growth in the service industry between 9 and 10%. This study goes on to show an overall share of between 40 and 50% of all jobs will be in the service industry. 45% of the U.S. workforce is a part of the service class, so it looks like Lancaster will be a shining example of the U.S. Average.

Map Credit: Zera Matheson, Martin Prosperity Institute

The working class will see a growth between 83 and 7,500 in new jobs and a percentage growth between 2 and 4%. This growth will give the working class a projected 30 to 40% of jobs in Lancaster County.

The growth of service class jobs seems in line with some of the revitalization efforts in Lancaster City (the area I live therefor most familiar). Over the past five years there has been a lot of focus and development centered on making Lancaster City a tourist destination and a convenient, walkable community for emptynester’s.

In the next week, Florida will be posting about Creative Class job growth, I am curious to see how we do, but if I read these maps correctly, there isn’t a lot of room left for the Creative class to find good jobs in Lancaster.

I’ll keep an eye on Florida’s new posts related to this data, and update this page when more info becomes available.