This story is part of the Times-News’ Erie 2024 series, an annual report on the Erie community and its economy.
The names of Erie’s largest employers are familiar to most of us.
A list of the top 50 employers, compiled every three months by the state Department of Labor & Industry, was led in the most recent report by Erie Insurance, which has about 3,400 Erie-based employees.
That report, the most recent available, reflects employment through the second quarter of 2023.
UPMC Hamot and Wabtec ranked second and third, while state government, Walmart and Saint Vincent Hospital were Erie County’s fourth-, fifth- and sixth-largest employers, respectively.
Not all top employers make the top-50 list.
Nick Scott Sr., president of Erie-based Scott Enterprises, has said over the years that his family’s company, which includes hotels, restaurants and Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park, employs more than 1,500 people, enough to land a spot near the top of Erie County’s largest employers.
But Scott Enterprises doesn’t make the list because its employees collect their checks from individual restaurants and other business, not from the umbrella company that owns all of them.