This column, written by LVEDC President & CEO Don Cunningham, originally appeared in The Morning Call and on the newspaper’s website on March 23, 2025. It is excerpted from the keynote address at Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.’s 30th Anniversary Celebration 2025 last week. 

Today we celebrate our 30 years of existence but – more importantly – the Lehigh Valley’s economic success. It wasn’t always like this.

You’ve heard me speak before of those days in the ’90s and early 2000s when business closures dominated the headlines and we fought “brain drain,” losing our young people to places with more opportunity.

These blast furnaces behind me fell silent in 1995. The final pour of hot metal tapped, ending a century-long run that produced the iron and steel that helped to win world wars and build skylines and bridges.

Bethlehem Steel is gone. Dozens of new employers have replaced it. Same site, different uses. The land continuing to be productive in a different economy — continuing to create opportunity for people to live here — to enjoy life — to raise a family — to carve out their little piece of an American dream.

That’s what we celebrate today — more than an organization, awards and rankings, or statistics. Economic development is best understood at that human level. People don’t require rankings. They feel it — when you have it and when you don’t. It’s simple. Are there enough jobs with enough pay for people of all skill levels, educational backgrounds, and cultures to enjoy life, raise a family, and get that piece of the American dream.

When it’s not working, people leave for elsewhere. I watched that happen. It’s what most of my classmates did after graduating from Bethlehem’s Freedom High School in 1983.

When it is working, people come home. They find their way from other areas or countries. There are many statistics I can cite but the ones that matter are about people.

The Lehigh Valley has the largest workforce in its history — about 364,000 people.

The region has had its lowest consistent unemployment rate, today at 3.8%.

The average hourly wage earned is $28.87.

Median household income is now $81,709, higher than that of the U.S. and Pennsylvania. It grew by $17,000 during the last five years and has outpaced inflation during that time.

With opportunity comes choice. And it’s opportunity that reduces poverty. The Lehigh Valley’s poverty rate is 10.5%, lower now than a decade ago — and less than the state and the nation. Our goal should be zero. Maybe someday.

Our economy is growing at 4% — faster than that of the U.S. and Pennsylvania.

The result — and the cause — of these factors is our population growth. Now just under 700,000 people in Lehigh and Northampton counties. It’s grown 6.5% in 10 years.

That growth, since 2020, is driven by people moving here from other places within the U.S. and abroad. Lehigh and Northampton counties are both in the top 5% of U.S. counties for domestic and international migration.

The brain drain of yesterday is the brain gain of today.

Last year, Northampton County led all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties in growth in population of 18- to 34-year-olds. We outpace the nation and our competition in the Northeastern U.S. for the growth of young people.

It should always be about the next generation — leaving things better than we found it.

Today, we have the luxury to be selective. The storyline has changed since this organization was in its infancy.

The headlines and e-blasts now scream for attention when a new building or project are proposed. The first reaction is often to oppose. When I was a young mayor here during the late ’90s, the Lehigh Valley didn’t have that luxury. We were fighting to recover — to create jobs, new tax base — and to reinvent and save our downtowns. To imagine restaurant districts, and nightlife, new manufacturers. To bring people back and attract new ones.

Recover we did. Reinvent we did. Bethlehem. Easton. Allentown. The urban boroughs and suburban townships.

Today, the new challenges — those of a growing region — have emerged. We need more housing, more childcare. Supply needs to meet demand to control prices.

Balance is needed to maintain the quality of life that we love while growing the jobs and companies that bring us opportunity and resources — and chase away poverty.

Our focus today is to grow our life science, biotech, medical device, software and hardware technology, semiconductors, and pharmaceutical companies and advanced manufacturing. We partner with our colleges and universities — our technical high schools — to connect talent to opportunity — students to jobs — to develop entrepreneurs and to help advance tech transfer from faculty and students into commercial companies.

At the core manufacturing remains. We make things here. Always have. Manufacturing is the largest part of the Lehigh Valley economy, pumping out $9 billion a year in GDP.

In the end, the story of this region is the story of its people, its companies, its schools, institutions, and neighborhoods. Our shared history — our culture, our story. The old has been infused with the new and we’ve become better. We’ve always welcomed new people, new companies, new ideas. We know how to reinvent and reimagine. That’s why we don’t stay down too long, and our future is always brighter than our past.

I hope I’m still here in 30 years to see what the next three decades bring.