Why do so many people hate phoenix/tucson and says there is no jobs (Surprise: buying a home, job market)

[wilberry]

plenty of jobs
too hot
dont know how people can stand it
i guess you drink a lot of water .
once my air cond stopped working in my car was it 112 that day but over 30 mph it would work , stop lights were uncomfortable.

[Juventas]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

No, they are not...just a few complaining that they can't find jobs with their experience...which apparently is not what employers are presently looking for. If you stop learning and growing in the IT field, you will quickly become irrelevant.

That and some obvious leftist that wants to control the free market as far as housing is concerned. The govt is not going to solve your problems by making rent cheaper. Up your skills and employ-ability. You are not going to live in a nice place in Scottsdale flipping burgers or answering phones in a call center...unless you have multiple roommates. And yes, your liberal arts degree is useless.

Recently I asked a friend who currently lives in Arizona about Customer Service jobs. She told me that people who work these jobs make enough and are able to live in their own apartment. She also stated that some customer service jobs will pay for relocation but I assume the apartments aren't in good areas.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by Juventas

Recently I asked a friend who currently lives in Arizona about Customer Service jobs. She told me that people who work these jobs make enough and are able to live in their own apartment. She also stated that some customer service jobs will pay for relocation but I assume the apartments aren't in good areas.

Yup, Customer Service jobs still pay a decent wage...notice my post said "in Scottsdale".

[Hrothgar]

Originally Posted by Juventas

Recently I asked a friend who currently lives in Arizona about Customer Service jobs. She told me that people who work these jobs make enough and are able to live in their own apartment. She also stated that some customer service jobs will pay for relocation but I assume the apartments aren't in good areas.

Pay is fine in Arizona, there are plenty of opportunities available for good paying jobs, especially in Customer Service. As for apartments it takes searching around a bit there's plenty of affordable apartments in areas that are fine areas.

Keep in mind with most of the griping about both are people angry they can't make $25/hr flipping burgers or afford to live in North Scottsdale while pushing shopping carts at Fry's.

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by Hrothgar

Pay is fine in Arizona, there are plenty of opportunities available for good paying jobs, especially in Customer Service. As for apartments it takes searching around a bit there's plenty of affordable apartments in areas that are fine areas.

Keep in mind with most of the griping about both are people angry they can't make $25/hr flipping burgers or afford to live in North Scottsdale while pushing shopping carts at Fry's.

Well, to be fair, Phoenix salaries are better, but still not quite on par with other cities like Boston, LA or New York. If you're in a STEM field your pay will probably be better. What makes the difference out here is the reasonable cost of living.

[Hrothgar]

Cost of living is a HUGE difference. Phoenix also offers less crime, lower taxes, reasonable laws and regulations and a worker as well as business friendly environment. Thank God that this isn't LA or New York.

[Bert_from_back_East]

Actually, the federal government has defined the Tucson metropolitan area as an economically distressed area (i.e., a federal poverty rate of at least 20% coupled with an unemployment rate that is at least 1.5x the national average). If I'm not mistaken, the poverty rate in Tucson is around 40%, and the region's high level of poverty is very apparent to anyone who has spent any amount of time in the metro area (e.g., lots of extremely rundown-looking neighborhoods, high violent crime and gang affiliation rates, mostly dilapidated roads, very low educational attainment levels among the local population, etc.).

Needless to say, there are very few well-paying white-collar jobs in Tucson. Corporations simply avoid setting up shop in Tucson because the region does not attract top talent and never has. Therefore, you're left with mostly service sector jobs that pay $10-12/hour, if you're lucky.

Also, I'm not sure if it's the endless sunshine, high Mexican population, extremely low cost-of-living or generally laid-back attitudes, but as a rule of thumb, people in Tucson are extremely unmotivated. In fact, I've never quite experienced a collective group of people who are so complacent from a career standpoint.

Phoenix, on the other hand, has a much larger corporate presence than Tucson because, as the most populous city in the Southwest, Phoenix is the regional "hub city;" however, that's not saying much, of course, since Tucson's economy is so small and lackluster to begin with.

As a collective, people in Phoenix are definitely more motivated than people in Tucson, but they're not typically employed in intellectually stimulating career fields, including recruiting/headhunting, real estate, insurance sales, retail management, hospitality management and automotive sales among others. Of course, there are lots of people in Phoenix who work in tech, engineering, healthcare and higher education, but in everyday life, these folks seem to be the exception, not the rule.

That's not to mention that, for one of the largest metropolitan areas in the entire country, Phoenix really punches below the belt in terms of F500 or even F1000 companies headquartered in the metro area. If you are a corporate professional and secure decent employment in Phoenix, I really hope you like and don't lose that job because it will be an act of God to find comparable employment in the metro area.

While I found salaries in Phoenix to be slightly more commensurate with the cost-of-living than in Florida, where I had been living previously, they're still low from a national perspective. This could present some challenges as it relates to salary negotiations from a long-term career standpoint, if you were to move to another large city such as Chicago, Dallas or San Francisco to name a few.

[dvxhd]

Originally Posted by Hrothgar

Cost of living is a HUGE difference. Phoenix also offers less crime, lower taxes, reasonable laws and regulations and a worker as well as business friendly environment. Thank God that this isn't LA or New York.

Actually, the overall crime rate in Phoenix is pretty well above the national average, and violent crime (which includes assault, rape, robbery, murder, etc.) is pretty high here.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

While I found salaries in Phoenix to be slightly more commensurate with the cost-of-living than in Florida, where I had been living previously, they're still low from a national perspective. This could present some challenges as it relates to salary negotiations from a long-term career standpoint, if you were to move to another large city such as Chicago, Dallas or San Francisco to name a few.

Well, as long as the cost of living is kept relatively low in the Phoenix area, the salaries will usually mirror the cost of living.

We're moving from the Chicago suburbs to the Peoria Area in 2 weeks, and my wife. who works as a contractor for an IT firm here, is going to keep her job for awhile, at the higher "Chicago" contractors rate, but in January, this assignment will be done, and if she still wants to work, there are supposed to be spots for her at a "similar" salary rate, so if that's true, she will be making strong money in Phoenix as well.

It looks like there is alot of IT/Tech expansion going on in the Phoenix area now, so if you are in the right field, it appears you can still make a nice living even in Phoenix...I guess time will tell..

[wilberry]

did I mention the heat ? must own a pool , must make enough to own /operate pool ...