He’s tasked with seeding thousands of new jobs in Pittsburgh — whether Amazon comes or not

As Amazon’s decision on where to build its second headquarters nears, Earl Buford is often up at night with a notepad. Mr. Buford, a new arrival to Pittsburgh, is still settling into his home in the Strip District.

Yet as the new CEO of PittsburghWorks , the workforce development agency for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, he is confronting the potential for 50,000 new jobs with salaries of $100,000 that the Seattle e-commerce giant has promised to inject into its chosen site.

“It’ll take middle-skilled job-seekers from here to there, and as they vacate jobs, those still on the ground have to get prepared for what’s there,” he said. “Really, the whole ecosystem of work changes. That’s the fun part about planning for this.”

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