TCB January 2026

The headlines from City Hall sound encouraging. Unemployment is low, businesses are opening, development continues, and City government is in the best fiscal health in 50 years, allowing for investment in things the city needs, like affordable and workforce housing as well as local business development. Yet for those of us studying Philadelphia's economy, the story beneath the numbers tells a more troubling truth. 

Philadelphia's labor market is cooling. More troubling than the slowdown itself is what it reveals: Have we celebrated job creation for too long without asking the question that matters most to working families, namely, are these jobs worth having? 

Many Philadelphia families already know the answer. You can have a full-time job and still struggle to pay rent, childcare, healthcare, and groceries. You can work long hours and still be unable to build savings or cover an unexpected bill.  Our economy had produced a lot of jobs, but unfortunately, the bulk of them are at the low end of the quality spectrum. 

The TL;DR: if all these jobs we're creating were actually quality jobs, where are the thousands of families climbing into the middle class? Where's the economic security we keep promising? And what can we do differently as a region to do better? 

The data confirms it. While the city has added jobs over the past decade, median wages have barely kept up with inflation. Fifteen dollars an hour translates to just over thirty-one thousand dollars annually before taxes. That is not enough to support a family in a city where the real cost of living requires far more.   

This is the quality gap: the difference between having employment and having economic security. The same structural inequalities that have concentrated poverty in Black and Latino neighborhoods trap these communities disproportionately in low-quality jobs with limited paths upward. 

It's time to shift focus from outputs to outcomes. Not all jobs move us forward. A city can add thousands of positions and still see families fall behind if those jobs don't provide stability, benefits, and pathways to advancement. 

It should give us pause that after three decades of job growth, we can count on one hand the number of predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods where workers have seen meaningful wage increases or wealth creation. We've been measuring the wrong things. 

Quality jobs are not mysterious. They pay enough to support a family, offer benefits, provide predictable schedules, and include clear paths for advancement. They meet the standard for what the MIT Living Wage calculator calls a family-sustaining wage – which in Philadelphia for a single adult with no children is $23.52 an hour, or just under $49,000 a year for a full-time worker.  Unfortunately, the average per capita income for a single adult in Philadelphia is just under $38,000, suggesting a large gap between average income and self-sufficiency. Sectors like healthcare, technology, advanced manufacturing, green industries, and professional services offer opportunities for both growth and quality.   

But quality jobs don't appear by chance. They require intentional planning. Workforce systems must connect residents to these sectors. Business attraction must prioritize quality employment. Investments in transit, broadband, and childcare are essential for full workforce participation. And crucially, we must act as a region, must intentionally work against political fragmentation and arbitrary lines on a map – that is, we cannot have a Southeastern PA strategy but across the entire 11-county-plus market. In short, we must overcome the American problem of having way too many lines on maps that impede intra-market collaboration. 

The Hidden Costs We're Ignoring 
Low-quality jobs carry hidden costs. When wages are too low, workers rely on public assistance, shifting the burden to taxpayers. When jobs lack health insurance, medical costs rise for everyone. When schedules are unstable, workers can't access education or childcare. 

Geography makes this worse. In neighborhoods long ignored by investment, residents face longer commutes, fewer professional networks, and more barriers to advancement. Where you live still shapes your economic future.  As Harvard, economist Raj Chetty’s Opportunity Atlas shows in stark detail, Philadelphia has fared miserably at helping those at the lowest end of the income distribution move up the mobility ladder. While the poverty rate has declined by eight points in the last two decades, the data suggests that this is probably because more wealthy people have moved into Philadelphia and not because we’ve seen upward mobility among generational residents.  

Measure What Matters 

Our City and region have many strong initiatives aiming to ensure that workers have skills that are aligned with the needs of the 21st century labor market.  Among the best are University City District’s Skills Initiative, Philadelphia Works’ Good Jobs Challenge, various programs at the Community College of Philadelphia and Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC), and some specialized programs tailored to the shipbuilding and construction industries, yet many of these initiatives operate in siloes.   

However, driven by research from Pew and Brookings on what they are calling “opportunity industries” that have potential to create large numbers of “opportunity jobs,” a mobility strategy seems to be developing. The real question is whether Philadelphia’s civic infrastructure is up to the task of putting aside egos and organizational self-interest to thoroughly lean into the challenge of coordinating and mobilizing resources around a shared agenda. I am cautiously optimistic, given what we have observed with the Civic Coalition to Save Lives, that given the proper leadership from major philanthropy, City government, and the business and nonprofit communities, we might see a functional coalition emerge.  The Chamber’s new leadership under CEO Chellie Cameron and Chair Chris Franklin of Essential Utilities seems committed to doing their part (though as I sit in the Chamber’s annual State of the Economy event, I worry that it is way too SEPA-centric). The emergence and durability of the Philadelphia Equity Alliance is another promising sign that coordination might be possible. 

The Fiscal Opportunity 

For the first time in decades, the city has financial room to act. With a budget surplus exceeding one billion dollars, a municipal pension system on the verge of full funding, Philadelphia can invest strategically in quality job creation, as well as the elements of human life that help individuals and families get on the ladder of economic mobility, such as quality, affordable housing and public education that is aligned with the careers of today and tomorrow. 

That means asking the right questions: Are the jobs we create accessible? Do they pay enough? Do they offer advancement? Can workers reach them by public transit? Do they support working parents? 

These must be the benchmarks for every workforce and development initiative. If the answer is no, we're not creating the jobs Philadelphia needs. 

When the Going Gets Tough 

A cooling labor market is both warning and opportunity. We cannot assume growth alone will solve our challenges. We can use this moment to build smarter systems and measure success by quality. 

At the Economy League, we're committed to that goal. We will continue providing research, convening partners, and translating data into action. Economic development must develop economies for everyone.  We are doubling down on proven initiatives like Philadelphia Anchors for Growth & Equity (PAGE) and Supply PHL, leveraging private and public sector institutional purchasing power to create growth for local Black and brown-owned businesses, a critical part of any racial equity and mobility strategy. We intend to launch a 6-year initiative to apply the PAGE model of local business development in a concerted and sustained way in North Philadelphia, still the city’s most challenged section by virtually every measure.   

Let's set ourselves a tangible goal: quality jobs that create pathways to the middle class, close equity gaps, and build generational wealth for the 65% of Philadelphians who are Black and brown. Who's with us?   

Philadelphia's labor market may be cooling, but our commitment to quality job creation cannot. Working families deserve nothing less, and the city's future depends on it. We will focus GPLEX 2026 on collaboration across lines of difference, on figuring out how to intentionally ignore political BP boundaries and act as a true region.