{"id":95,"date":"2022-11-03T07:51:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T07:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/?p=95"},"modified":"2022-11-04T19:44:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T19:44:15","slug":"behind-scrantons-declining-youth-labor-market-who-is-leaving-and-who-stays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/behind-scrantons-declining-youth-labor-market-who-is-leaving-and-who-stays\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Scranton\u2019s Declining Youth Labor Market: Who is Leaving and Who Stays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many of his classmates, Kiran Sharma, an MBA student at the University of Scranton, is planning to leave the area upon graduation due to few job opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

While his family and friends and the low cost of living have kept him in Scranton so far, he plans to move to Philadelphia or leave the state entirely for better opportunities. He says the lack of employers and opportunity to grow has driven younger residents to leave Scranton.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI often consider this area as the \u2018land that time forgot,\u201d said Sharma. \u201cThere are no new businesses, and at a larger business school, that\u2019s detrimental.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Scranton is one of the major higher education institutions in northeastern Pennsylvania. As of 2021, there were more than 4,600 students at the University of Scranton with only 30% of graduates who continue to work in Pennsylvania, according to a report of the university.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople now leave in search of jobs that are worthy of a college degree,\u201d said Alfonso Gristina, District Director of U.S. Department of Labor, and a graduate of the University of Scranton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aryan, who requested not to use his last name due to privacy reasons, is studying electrical engineering with a full tuition scholarship from the University of Scranton, but plans to move to Texas or Georgia later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Aryan\"
Aryan (Photo by Silin Chen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think there are opportunities, but there’s little room for growth,\u201d said Aryan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, most high-paying jobs in Scranton can be found in the government and in the healthcare industries. Educational and healthcare services represent the largest share of jobs in the city at 29.4% as of 2021, higher than the average of Pennsylvania and the US, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy classmates who choose to stay have a connection to Geisinger basically,\u201d said Sharma. Geisinger is one of the largest employers in the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton area providing healthcare to central, south-central and northeastern Pennsylvania with over three million patients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But for some long-time residents, they never even considered leaving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gristina, now nearing his 60s, has prioritized his family in his decision to stay. \u201cMy family is here,\u201d said Gristina. \u201cI have three friends whom I have known since we were kids. These relationships mean the world to me. That, combined with family and friends, a career I love, and a low cost of living make it an ideal place for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He tried to persuade his 20-year-old son, Philip Gristina, to go to the University of Scranton, but his son refused. Instead, he decided to go to Loyola University in Baltimore last year and has plans to get a PhD and teach at a university.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alfonso
Alfonso Gristina (Photo by Silin Chen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though his son has moved away from northeastern Pennsylvania, Gristina believes that the local opportunities are gradually increasing. \u201cI see more job opportunities than one or two decades ago,\u201d said the District Director of the U.S. Department of Labor. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the 1950s when the city was enjoying a booming time, but generally there has been an upward trend in recent years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Karen Masters, Project Director from PA CareerLink, a government-owned institution that provides career training services and connects job-seekers with employers, said that there is a large trend of people leaving, but that there has also been a large influx of young people from New York City and New Jersey moving in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey come here to live, to study, and to take advantage of the programs,\u201d said Masters. \u201cThere are a lot of healthcare industries moving into the area. The Chamber of Commerce has done a lot to bring businesses here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Among those new employers include, MTF Biologics, a company that provides tissue samples for medical research, and Amazon, which recently opened a one-million-square-foot warehouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

For some young adults in Scranton who choose to stay and live with their parents, they have accepted the reality that they may not get the high-paying jobs they want.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m working a job that makes me happy, I feel like that’s better, even if I won\u2019t get as much money,\u201d says Kate Malloy, a University of Scranton undergraduate studying history.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some young adults in Scranton who choose to stay and live with their parents, they have accepted the reality that they may not get the high-paying jobs they want.\u00a0 Continue reading Behind Scranton\u2019s Declining Youth Labor Market: Who is Leaving and Who Stays<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jobs","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/University_of_Scranton_final.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}