State College folks flock to Philly while locals flee for West Coast, LinkedIn says

Is West Coast really best coast? Based one new report, that may be the case for ex-Philadelphians.

A new report published by the jobs-centric social network site LinkedIn has found that in the last 12 months, Philly has lost the most workers to the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Washington, D.C. rounded out the top three.

Meanwhile, Philly has gained the most workers in the last year from up state, namely in State College, Allentown, and Scranton, respectively. “For every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Philadelphia, 1.23 workers moved to the city in the last year from State College,” the report noted.

Of course, there are some caveats to note about this analysis, most importantly that this data is based solely on LinkedIn users—specifically those who have remembered to update their profiles with their new gigs.

Still, the report provides at least some interesting insights as to why Philadelphians are leaving the city for the west coast. For example, the report noted that there is a large skills gap in Philly, where there are an overabundance of workers with skills in the medical field. Meanwhile, the tech-saavy hub of the San Francisco Bay Area is one that is in need of workers with skills in health care management and nursing.

Read the full LinkedIn report on Philadelphia here.

• LinkedIn Workforce Report, Philadelphia [LinkedIn]