Philadelphia Online | Citizen Voices

In a 1996 survey of America’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, Philadelphia tied for last place in the number of new businesses started per capita. The leader, Houston, had four times the per capita rate of Philadelphia.

9,029 patents were granted to researchers, businesses and inventors in the Philadelphia region over the five years ending in 1997. That rate of patent approval –- a key harbinger of high-tech growth –- is better than that of Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, New York and Houston. But San Jose, Calif., center of the Silicon Valley, had more than 16,000 patents over the same period.

In a 1997 survey of city-based businesses by the Office of the City Controller, 18 percent of the companies said they had considered moving out of the city. Most cited the wage tax as a prime reason. But 38 percent of those surveyed said they were considering expanding their physical plant within the city.

Center City office space has stayed stable around 38 million square feet throughout the 1990s. The occupancy rate has moved from a decade high of 88.4 percent in 1990 to a low of 81.5 percent in 1993 to 85.9 percent in 1997, according to the Center City District.

40 percent (308,000) of the city’s jobs are in Center City.

In one poll, 80 percent of visitors to the city said they were staying just one day.

The Philadelphia region’s jobless rate in December was 4.1 percent.

Philadelphia has 168,000 people on public assistance, 58,000 of them adults. That is about half of Pennsylvania’s total, and represents about 1 out of every nine city residents. About 17,600 adults in the region –- most of them in the city -- are slated to lost welfare benefits on March 3.

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