Jobs picture brightens for Philly

Philadelphia’s post-recession job picture isn’t so bad, according to a top city official. 

The city added thousands of jobs since the recession ended, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said in his latest report.

“Philadelphia has added about 40,000 jobs since 2010,” he said. “The city is adding jobs in education and hospitality and medical services and losing them in manufacturing and government employment.”

Butkovitz said the city’s figures aren’t as robust as the national numbers, but he said it’s good nonetheless.

“I think it’s a pleasant surprise to people that 40,000 were added in the past few years,” he said. “We are shepherding a program in cooperation with the medical centers to try and make Philadelphia a center for manufacturing the kinds of products they use in hospitals and medical offices.”

For example, a project is underway to bring a medical laundry to the city so that bed linens and the like don’t have to shipped approximately 100 miles away to be cleaned.