Pittsburgh is swell, but an "expat hotspot"?

The CNNMoney headline "Pittsburgh becomes expat hot spot" jumped out at readers on May 30, leading us to wonder why author opted for the present tense over something more representative of a developing situation. Those who choose to read the entire report---all seven paragraphs of it---might not get too worked up. Pittsburgh is a fine mid-sized city with rotten public transportation but is very insecure and boasts of any ranking or mention in the mainstream media, regardless of how vapid the source or cursory the glance.

The online article cities Associates for International Research, Inc. [AIRINC], and writes

Pittsburgh, a former steel powerhouse, has emerged as a hot bed for operations related to the oil and gas boom in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. AIRINC, a provider of cost of living data, put Pittsburgh on its "cities to watch" list in a recent report detailing the top locations requested from the company.

The two-page report is available for download from the AIRINC website, but is tiny and offers no data or explanations for the findings. It begins its "Trending Expat Cities 2013":

AIRINC, the global leader in cost of living data, recently investigated five-year global trends in expatriate relocation. Based on client demand, AIRINC's survey revealed that London has withstood the meteoric rise of Asia and South America to maintain its place as the top business destination. Singapore and Shanghai remained second and third respectively, while Sao Paulo, ranked ninth, broke into the Top 10 for the first time, rising from twenty-fourth on the list in 2008 with the help of a booming Brazilian economy.

The "Most Popular Expat Locations", according to the report, are: London (#1), Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Dubai, Beijing, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Sydney. Though the report refers to a longer list, it isn't made available by AIRINC.

Where Pittsburgh turns up is on page 2, the only North American city considered among "Cities to Watch". Other cities we're invited to watch are: Dhaka, Bangladesh; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Pune, India; Yangon, Myanmar; Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei; Suzhou, China; Harare, Zimbabwe; Perth, Australia; Shengyang, China; Cape Town, South Africa; Abuja, Nigeria; Brisbane, Australia; Ulan Bator, Mongolia; Shenzhen, China; Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The five cities that "had the biggest increase in expatriate activity over the last five years due to business incentives, cost effectiveness considerations, and thriving economies that featured heavy growth in GDP" are Sao Paulo; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bogota, Colombia; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

For more reading on Pittsburgh's "Asian brain gain" and its new immigrant population, here's a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from June, 2012, which talks about why they're coming and why, in some cases, they're not staying. I wrote about it last year, providing a little more data and wondering why the author thinks anyone moves to Pittsburgh for its rivers.