Report: Arizona to create jobs at ‘healthier clip’ in 2014
Jan 27, 2014, 2:45 PM | Updated: 2:45 pm
Employment in Arizona is expected to be on the upswing this year, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Arizona is one of the 10 states predicted to have the highest growth rates. The state is expected to add 77,000 new jobs by year’s end, a growth rate of approximately 3 percent.
Overall, the U.S. economy is slated to produce 2.6 million jobs this year, an increase from 2.2 million last year. The health care, energy and high-tech sectors will see most of the boom.
For Arizona, it’s the high-tech sector that will give employment a major boost. Both Apple and Intel are building facilities in the Valley area and Internet domain company GoDaddy will employ 300 new people, once its new technology center is complete.
“While growth is slow compared to past recoveries, we are making good progress compared to other states,” said research professor Lee McPheters at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
Arizona ranked 49th for job growth in 2010 and jumped to seventh place last October. Moody’s Analytics, the global economic forecasting company that has collected all the data, has Arizona coming in at No. 2 for 2014.
McPheters said, however, that he believes Arizona is “still two to three years from a full economic recovery,”
especially since the housing bust all but obliterated the state’s economy.
