Arizona falls to 46th for job growth... (Phoenix: unemployment benefits, company)

[jd433]

The Phoenix area right now is losing a lot of jobs. I believe the job growth is actually negative. Arizona is in some kind of recession right now and the population growth is down.

[griebelh]

Seems like the above poster is trying to **** people off.. hmm.

[griebelh]

cant say pee-yoed on this site? whoops

[115db]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Time to move to North Dakota.

I knew something sounded attractive about the Dakotas...and its more than just my truck.

[joninaz]

Don't look for corporations to move here. If anything, they are looking overseas. And it's not for cheap labor - they can be based here and still use cheap labor in Asia, etc. Most HQs want to be in western big cities, so we're not just competing with every other US city, but also every western country.

In the U.S., our coporate tax rate is 35%. Combined with state corporate tax, it jumps to 39%. Meanwhile KPMG surveyed 86 other countries and found they've reduced rates to an average of 27 percent.

In Europe, the biggest gainer has been Ireland. They went against the grain and offered companies lower tax rates to set up shop there. The result has been that they've enjoyed incredible growth. It pissed off the rest of the EU, but rather fighting them, they joined the trend. EU corporate tax rates have dropped from 35 to 26 percent.

Moving to a 26% tax rate versus a 39% rate is like giving yourself a monster raise. And corporations don't operate on the "feel good" agenda... it's one of their responsibilities to maximize profits for investors.

For the good of AZ and the US, we really need to debate the corporate tax rates and how that impacts the economy.

[Hotinthecity]

That must be why I can't find a decent paying job in this state! I'm not sure what other rocks I can look under. It's either a hospital job to which I am not an RN or the many, many retail stores on every strip mall corner.

Urgh.....what's the deal?

[mobiusaz]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Why do you consider small business to be a virtue? Small business is just that: SMALL! A major metro area like Phoenix should encourage more Fortune 500 type of firms to locate their corporate HQs here ... not just satellite offices or regional offices, but large reputable firms that employ people with education, skills, and determination. Besides, the failure rate of small businesses is much higher than that of the large corporations. Why is that something to be proud of???

As a matter of historical market fact, small businesses grow faster, innovate more, and produce more jobs than large businesses.

[mobiusaz]

Originally Posted by haymann

Arizona's wages are one of the worst in the country.

Arizona's income level is right about the middle for the United States.
Income 2006 - Three-Year-Average Median Household Income by State: 2001-2006
Income 2006 - Two-Year-Average Median Household Income by State: 2001-2006
Household income in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maybe that qualifies as "one of the worst" to you, but "middle" is not the same as "one of the worst" in my mind.

[mobiusaz]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

I just don't think that our economy should be reliant on small businesss more than the larger firms ...

I challenge you to name one -- just one -- city in which more people are employed by "larger firms" than "small businesses." (Company towns don't count.) And make sure you provide evidence for your claim.

[fcorrales80]

There is no evidence that larger firms employ more people and more white collar jobs than small businesses because they don't. Small business as a sector is a larger employment base. Arizona's rate has fallen, just as the nation's has for economic growth, but as posted before and in other threads, Phoenix Metro areas growth rate is still ahead of the nation. While Phoenix has begun to diversify, much of Arizona depended on population growth. Think of the communities outside of the metro area that grew because people bought houses out there and had long commutes to Phoenix for work: Maricopa, Gila Bend, Florence, Superior, Wickenburg, Anthem, etc. in which no employers located but construction of new houses boomed. Now that has stopped and those town's economic growth is basically 0. That's not the case in the Phoenix metro area. In Phoenix the housing and real estate markets have tanked, but the economy continues to grow above the national average.