Pew study: Philadelphians are optimistic, even as unemployment rises

April 21, 7:02 p.m.

According to a recent report by Pew Research Center, Philadelphians are more optimistic than the rest of the country - even though they consume a record high of cigarettes and have dismal job prospects.

At a time when only 20 percent of the U.S. population answered that the country is headed in the right direction, 46 percent of Philadelphians look forward to the city's future.

The Philadelphia Research Initiative, funded by Pew, recently released "Philadelphia 2009: The State of the City."

The authors, former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick and PRI project director and former Inquirer reporter Larry Eichel, assembled the material for the report over four months. According to Eichel, they focused on six areas - jobs and the economy; crime and punishment; education; city government; arts and culture; and health and welfare.

The report found that unemployment has significantly risen in the past three decades as the number of jobs available has fallen. In 1980, there were 782,000 jobs in Philadelphia, while at the end of 2008, the city had just 661,000 jobs.

"The city would be a lot better off if that number started heading off in the other direction," Eichel added.

Another issue highlighted by the report was the high number of smokers and overweight people in the city.

In 2002, 23 percent of Americans smoked - as of 2008, that number dropped to 20 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of smokers in Philadelphia has risen from 26 to 27 percent.

"That may or not be a significant increase, but what it tells you is that the percentage of adults who smoke in Philadelphia is higher than the national average and not declining here," Eichel said.

While 35 percent of residents identify as overweight and 29 percent are obese, the national average is not far off.

See Wednesday's Daily Pennsylvanian for more information.

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