Philadelphia’s CBD economy is slowly recovering as companies plan and implement post-pandemic workplace alternatives. The Omicron variant disrupted many return-to-office plans in Winter 2022. Flexibility will be a top priority as organizations prioritize bringing workers back into the office.
Conversely, two years into the pandemic, the city’s economy is showing positive indications of recovery. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% by December 2021, which was the same rate reported before the pandemic. While job growth is still fluctuating by sector, education and health care have had the most job growth since the beginning of the year. Additionally, life science, technology, and professional sectors have rebounded to prepandemic employment levels.