Allegheny County exec candidate Joe Rockey unveils economic plan

Republican candidate for Allegheny County executive Joe Rockey lamented the county’s loss of jobs in a press conference Thursday and called for an economic renaissance plan to address it.

Rockey, a former PNC executive from Ohio Township, said Allegheny County has lost 50,000 jobs over the last five years. He believes new policies are needed to recover those jobs.

At a press conference at the Mill 19 site in Hazelwood, he said the county needs to better take advantage of federal funding, leverage the county’s natural gas reserves, be more welcoming to immigrants, and streamline regulatory hurdles in order to increase the county’s population and its jobs.

“It’s time we stopped managing decline and reimagine growth by leveraging our workforce, resources and tradition as a center of innovation and manufacturing,” Rockey said.

Rockey said Allegheny County should be capitalizing more on big federal spending bills that have created jobs across the country, but not yet in Allegheny County.

He said the CHIPS and Science Act has created thousands of manufacturing jobs, but has not yet benefited Allegheny County. He also wants to see more jobs created from the Inflation Reduction Act, which he said has directed $125 billion to create 86,000 jobs across the nation.

The hardest hit sector from the 50,000 lost jobs in the county is financial services and insurance, which has lost nearly 12,000 jobs in the last five years. Rockey said part of that decline has been the decrease in corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh and those industries creating efficiencies that mean fewer jobs are necessary.

He said it’s the county executive’s job to sell the region to ensure corporations choose to stay in Pittsburgh or relocate here.

“We need to be selling to them on why they need to stay in Pittsburgh and not moving jobs elsewhere,” said Rockey.

Rockey, a Republican who has pitched himself as a moderate, said he is willing to work with Democrats Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Joe Biden to help Allegheny County.

The general election pits Rockey against former state Rep. Sara Innamorato, a Democrat from Lawrenceville. Democrats have a 2-1 voter registration edge in Allegheny County.

Rockey has garnered the support of some unions in the area, including the laborers at LiUNA and police officers, though most unions have backed Innamorato.

Rockey’s plan also included leveraging the county’s natural resources, including natural gas. He said the region can be attractive to manufacturers who need abundant energy needs and water needs.

He said Allegheny County can be more attractive to businesses than other states like Texas, which has struggled with consistent energy use with problems with their electrical grid, and California, which has trouble accessing consistent water.

Rockey also noted Allegheny County’s struggles in attracting immigrants. He said the county needs to be more welcoming to international arrivals in order to grow the county’s population.

Allegheny County experienced one of the county’s worst population losses between 2021 and 2022.

The county and Pittsburgh have had publicized welcoming initiatives in the past, but the region has failed to attract large amounts of immigrants for decades.

Rockey said bringing jobs to the region is part of what will attract more immigrants to the county.

“If we have a robust economy, immigrants will come here,” he said. “That is what grew the county in the past.”

He also said the county should be streamlining regulatory processes to help businesses expand. He blamed regulatory hurdles for U.S. Steel’s decision to cancel a $1.5 billion upgrade in the region. He also blamed too many regulations for slowing the proposed expansion of Bakery Square in Pittsburgh’s East End.

“We cannot let administrators get in the way of the jobs that we need,” he said.