Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Pretty interesting article in the Republic quoting a recent article in the October edition of Forbes
"Forbes Magazine has named Arizona the best state for future job growth, but one local economic expert said the distinction does come with some caveats. The magazine in October used forecasts from Moody’s Analytics to call Arizona one of the “brighter spots in a slumbering U.S. economy thanks in part to renewed migration.”
I think a good example of what's going on in the valley is that Silicon valley company Gainsight decided to move its marketing headquarters to Phoenix:
Positive comments throughout. Also mentions the other tech companies coming to the valley that coincide with the job growth projected in the articles azriverfan posted.
The examples offered are all IT companies. Yes, I think they can get the work-forces they may need from AZ's universities. But I'd question if we are ever going to have other kinds of companies flocking here.
The belief that AZ has a loads of "skilled workers" ready to take on a variety of jobs has never been demonstrated to me. How could that be likely when the state is, overall, among the least in the nation interested in investing in education?
I would also question how many workers currently employed in other states willingly to be transferred here if they have anything to say about it. From what I hear, many Americans do not view Arizona as a top place to raise families. We have a nationwide reputation for being socially backward, politically extreme, and overrun with retirees. Whether that's true or not is, sad to say, irrelevant; it's a belief millions hold.
The examples offered are all IT companies. Yes, I think they can get the work-forces they may need from AZ's universities. But I'd question if we are ever going to have other kinds of companies flocking here.
The belief that AZ has a loads of "skilled workers" ready to take on a variety of jobs has never been demonstrated to me. How could that be likely when the state is, overall, among the least in the nation interested in investing in education?
I would also question how many workers currently employed in other states willingly to be transferred here if they have anything to say about it. From what I hear, many Americans do not view Arizona as a top place to raise families. We have a nationwide reputation for being socially backward, politically extreme, and overrun with retirees. Whether that's true or not is, sad to say, irrelevant; it's a belief millions hold.
Actually the article from the OP goes into more than IT and into financial, health care, and consumer services that are doing well here. This it the article from the OP that discusses this:
"Companies and workers are also finding their way to Arizona as a more affordable option to West Coast locales like the Bay Area and Seattle. The state offers a diversified economy with a skilled workforce."
I agree.....AZ colleges will fill the demand. Or like many other states these days with a highly mobile work population, they will flow in from other states. And there are plenty of very good to excellent public schools in the valley in many of the suburbs. We are obviously attracting a skilled workforce with all the tech, financial, and health care jobs, so I think the "public school sky is falling" crowd is way overstated given the actual data on what's going on here, especially in the valley.
Though I sometimes hear the arguments you bring up though I tend to hear them mostly on citydata or by politicians with something to gain/someone to answer to in regards to $....what else is new I suppose. Looking at the actions of people however, I think the reality is given the tons of families that move and stay here net-net, the ever growing population of AZ(and our average population age is lower than the US average so it's not all snowbirds/retired people) and the many skilled jobs we have in health care, finance, and tech, and the mention of AZ in a magazine like Forbes that we are going to be tops in job growth in the entire nation, many of them skilled jobs, I think it says loudly we are doing much better than many people give credit to the valley/AZ....if an action can be "loud" that is.
As for the view of some that believe AZ/Phoenix is socially backward, politically extreme, etc., I can tell you many people have the same views of many other states. CA, NY, WA, OR, FL, TX....really all the states have many negative stereotypes to them if one is honest. And it all depends on one's perspective/viewpoint on certain subjects so to me it's a non-issue. Any state/city can't please everyone nor should it. That doesn't work for individuals either, ie, trying to please everyone....one has to be who they are. For those with ignorant beliefs about a state/city, often without ever setting foot in said city/state, they have 49 other states to chose from. I think AZ/Phoenix is doing very well on many fronts without their narrow/jaded/often learned from a biased media view points, thank you.
The belief that AZ has a loads of "skilled workers" ready to take on a variety of jobs has never been demonstrated to me. How could that be likely when the state is, overall, among the least in the nation interested in investing in education?
.
Yet spending on education in AZ increases by two to three hundred million dollars per year.
Education
Fiscal Years 2010 to 2016
Education -state/local
I'm not sure how much of this spending is "invested". Not all dollars spent are an investment although government spending advocates might say otherwise.
I'm not sure how much of this spending is "invested". Not all dollars spent are an investment although government spending advocates might say otherwise.
Yet comes in 47th place in terms of education. Money not well spent.
Yet comes in 47th place in terms of education. Money not well spent.
How was that 47th place determined...how much they spend? I read a study that said Arizona's students outperform New York state's students on test scores despite NY spending more per pupil than any other state. This also held true between races as whites and blacks in Arizona both outperform their peers in New York.
The larger issue is that Arizona has available and inexpensive Universities that pump out a lot of graduates and an ample and growing labor supply that is not expensive. So this attracts certain types of businesses. Arizona does not have a premium university which probably does limit their appeal to IT corporate headquarters and other businesses requiring near geniuses and super arrogant types.
Location: The edge of the world and all of Western civilization
984 posts, read 1,191,283 times
Reputation: 1691
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
The examples offered are all IT companies. Yes, I think they can get the work-forces they may need from AZ's universities. But I'd question if we are ever going to have other kinds of companies flocking here.
The belief that AZ has a loads of "skilled workers" ready to take on a variety of jobs has never been demonstrated to me. How could that be likely when the state is, overall, among the least in the nation interested in investing in education?
I would also question how many workers currently employed in other states willingly to be transferred here if they have anything to say about it. From what I hear, many Americans do not view Arizona as a top place to raise families. We have a nationwide reputation for being socially backward, politically extreme, and overrun with retirees. Whether that's true or not is, sad to say, irrelevant; it's a belief millions hold.
I think the state has to start somewhere in diversifying the economy, and I also think Phoenix needs to be more aggressive about marketing itself as "separate" from Arizona the way several cities do. NYC is worlds apart from the rest of New York, Chicago is nothing like the rest of Illinois, Atlanta has pretty much set itself up as distinct from the rest of Georgia, and despite its state's insane politics, Miami has separated itself from Florida. Even though the reality is that the rest of Arizona is nothing like Phoenix, outside the state people don't view it as such.
That being said, according to the Census Bureau, Arizona lags a bit in educational attainment, though the data I looked at considers the entire state, while Phoenix is probably more educated than the more rural areas. The data is a few years old, but these sets always seem to lag a bit and it's probably still pretty close to the present. In Bachelor's degree attainment, Arizona ranks 29th at 25.6%. To see the whole picture, that's below the national average (27.9%), Massachusetts ranks #1 (38.2%) and West Virginia is last (17.3%). 34 states total are in the 20-29.9% range. In advanced degree attainment, Arizona does better, ranking 26th (9%). That's still below the national average (10.3%), Massachusetts is still #1 (16.4%), Arkansas is last (6.1%), and only 19 states are at 10% or above. I think it might be important for Arizona to compare itself in this area to fast-growing states, such as Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Florida (Arizona beats Texas in educational attainment, and is well behind Georgia and Florida).
I think those statistics indicate the kind of people moving here, how serious people take education, the available labor force with at least a Bachelor's, etc. I think it also indicates Arizona has a brain drain (in that people leave after graduating college, as there may be no reason for them to remain here), and that the state in general has some difficulty attracting educated workers.
I think the state has to start somewhere in diversifying the economy, and I also think Phoenix needs to be more aggressive about marketing itself as "separate" from Arizona the way several cities do. NYC is worlds apart from the rest of New York, Chicago is nothing like the rest of Illinois, Atlanta has pretty much set itself up as distinct from the rest of Georgia, and despite its state's insane politics, Miami has separated itself from Florida. Even though the reality is that the rest of Arizona is nothing like Phoenix, outside the state people don't view it as such.
That being said, according to the Census Bureau, Arizona lags a bit in educational attainment, though the data I looked at considers the entire state, while Phoenix is probably more educated than the more rural areas. The data is a few years old, but these sets always seem to lag a bit and it's probably still pretty close to the present. In Bachelor's degree attainment, Arizona ranks 29th at 25.6%. To see the whole picture, that's below the national average (27.9%), Massachusetts ranks #1 (38.2%) and West Virginia is last (17.3%). 34 states total are in the 20-29.9% range. In advanced degree attainment, Arizona does better, ranking 26th (9%). That's still below the national average (10.3%), Massachusetts is still #1 (16.4%), Arkansas is last (6.1%), and only 19 states are at 10% or above. I think it might be important for Arizona to compare itself in this area to fast-growing states, such as Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Florida (Arizona beats Texas in educational attainment, and is well behind Georgia and Florida).
I think those statistics indicate the kind of people moving here, how serious people take education, the available labor force with at least a Bachelor's, etc. I think it also indicates Arizona has a brain drain (in that people leave after graduating college, as there may be no reason for them to remain here), and that the state in general has some difficulty attracting educated workers.
Given the fact that the jobs that require education are coming here/setting up shop, we are projected to be #1 job growth in the nation, that alone tells me everything can't be projected by just looking at numbers in isolation. Actions speak much louder than words/stats. And the fact that "brain drain" can drain from state to state which I think is happening. We don't exist in a vacuum and as you know, AZ is largely made up from people from other states so I don't think we should just look at Phoenix metro/AZ education attainment stats in isolation. It's more complex than that.
I think the state has to start somewhere in diversifying the economy, and I also think Phoenix needs to be more aggressive about marketing itself as "separate" from Arizona the way several cities do. NYC is worlds apart from the rest of New York, Chicago is nothing like the rest of Illinois, Atlanta has pretty much set itself up as distinct from the rest of Georgia, and despite its state's insane politics, Miami has separated itself from Florida. Even though the reality is that the rest of Arizona is nothing like Phoenix, outside the state people don't view it as such.
That being said, according to the Census Bureau, Arizona lags a bit in educational attainment, though the data I looked at considers the entire state, while Phoenix is probably more educated than the more rural areas. The data is a few years old, but these sets always seem to lag a bit and it's probably still pretty close to the present. In Bachelor's degree attainment, Arizona ranks 29th at 25.6%. To see the whole picture, that's below the national average (27.9%), Massachusetts ranks #1 (38.2%) and West Virginia is last (17.3%). 34 states total are in the 20-29.9% range. In advanced degree attainment, Arizona does better, ranking 26th (9%). That's still below the national average (10.3%), Massachusetts is still #1 (16.4%), Arkansas is last (6.1%), and only 19 states are at 10% or above. I think it might be important for Arizona to compare itself in this area to fast-growing states, such as Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Florida (Arizona beats Texas in educational attainment, and is well behind Georgia and Florida).
I think those statistics indicate the kind of people moving here, how serious people take education, the available labor force with at least a Bachelor's, etc. I think it also indicates Arizona has a brain drain (in that people leave after graduating college, as there may be no reason for them to remain here), and that the state in general has some difficulty attracting educated workers.
I guess you are hinting at the politics of Arizona. The reality, though, is that Phoenix is the problem if your desire is to see a more accepting, progressive, state. The most embarrassing politicians come from right here in the valley from places like Gilbert and Fountain Hills. Without Phoenix and, especially, its suburbs Arizona would be a blue state.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Looking at the actions of people however, I think the reality is given the tons of families that move and stay here net-net, the ever growing population of AZ(and our average population age is lower than the US average so it's not all snowbirds/retired people) and the many skilled jobs we have in health care, finance, and tech, and the mention of AZ in a magazine like Forbes that we are going to be tops in job growth in the entire nation, many of them skilled jobs, I think it says loudly we are doing much better than many people give credit to the valley/AZ....if an action can be "loud" that is.
