Economist: Arizona high-tech jobs being filled
May 31, 2012, 7:13 AM | Updated: Jun 4, 2012, 10:34 pm
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Industry experts nationwide said the United States has a lack of high-tech workers.
One California company said it has 5,000 high-tech jobs in San Diego that it can’t fill.
Valley economist Elliott Pollack said it’s different in Arizona.
“I can tell we are creating jobs in high-tech, and for the most part those jobs are getting filled,” said Pollack.
Pollack said that California companies open up thousands of high-tech jobs all at once, but that’s not the case with Arizona’s job market.
“You don’t tend to have many high-tech employers adding a great number of jobs at once,” he said.
“You might have a few here, a few there. For the most part they get filled. In addition, Arizona is a place that people like to come to.”
Pollack agreed with industry experts who said kindergarten through 12th-grade schools need to do a better job teaching math and science, subjects that are critical for high-tech careers.
Pollack worries that America may need to import workers from overseas four to six years from now when a high-tech labor shortage is caused by baby boomers who are retiring.
