The secret is out – the quantity of quality jobs in Arizona is extremely low. Finding one of the few great job opportunities in Arizona is nearly impossible, but these days people are struggling in their hunt for any sort of job out here. Obviously, the economy across the country isn’t doing too great right now, but the employment situation in Arizona probably won’t be rebounding any time soon as it will be in many places. Arizona has always been known for its call center and construction jobs, along with a number of positions tied directly to the building, leasing, and selling of local real estate. There are very few companies headquartered in the area and a limited number of jobs out here outside of the construction, real estate, and service industries. The majority of Arizona residents have always relied on working these retail, foodservice, and construction jobs and many were happy to do so – remember, the majority out here have little desire to get ahead. The great Arizona housing crash has not only successfully dropped Arizona housing prices back to reality and then some, but has also led to a depressing situation in the Arizona job market for many residents here.
As Arizona experienced record population growth in recent years, it led to a false sense of security for many and a very temporary job market. Construction teams were busy building up house after house, along with the adjacent community shopping centers. More and more service jobs were created to service all the residents in these newer communities and strip malls which shot up around Phoenix. Many people jumped into real estate and mortgage jobs in order to keep up with the temporary demand and most saw it as their gold ticket to early retirement. The mindset in Arizona seemed to to be that the population growth would continue, home values would continue to go up, and jobs were more than secure. So, now that the real estate bubble burst and took tons of real estate and construction related jobs with it, what is your now out of work Arizona Realtor or mortgage broker to do? Well, you have probably seen many of them out and about as many now work at Safeway, Burger King, Bashas’, or Applebees – jobs that a lot of people in Arizona had always relied on being available. And in a place like Arizona, this trend is likely to continue for quite some time as all those excess mortgage and constructions jobs just aren’t needed anymore.
Times are tough for your average Arizona resident and they aren’t going to be getting better any time soon. More jobs aren’t going to appear out of thin air – if anything, the number of available jobs in Arizona is actually declining. Next time you head out, count how many strip malls have vacant openings or how many grocery stores have closed down or the now empty fast food restaurant buildings. And it seems like someone finally wised up to the fact that it might be time to slow down all the new home and commercial property builds – many of which sit vacant regardless of location. These retail and service jobs were the jobs Arizona’s people had relied on for so long and many of these jobs are now done by out of work Arizona Realtors and construction workers. It was bad enough that there were never really any good jobs in Arizona, but now that there is pretty much NO jobs in Arizona – good luck!
Their never was any good jobs in Arizona and now with the economy in the crapper dont even bother looking for work out here, unless your happy making 8 or 9 bucks an hour my first job when i was 16 paid more than these so called careers out here. Any job you apply for out here expect to have over 100 other applicants just dying for that 8 dollar an hour job so even if you get the job expect to be treated like crap because your employer knows theirs a hundred other people looking to fill your position. Education is not a high priority for employers out here i have worked with some of the dumbest people on the planet, people without a h.s. diploma or GED. Alot of the companies out here and temp agencies have no standards as to who they hire. They like uneducated people out here who are happy with no future and making shit, cause they know they will stick with that 8 dollar an hour job till they die and be happy with it. I also have never met so many people in their 30s and 40s working fast food or restaurant jobs and happy with that, its like people out here have no direction or ambition to better themselves at all. Construction out here sucks who wants to work in this heat, with all the illegals you cant get a decent wage in that field hardly either not to mention their not building anything. No unions out here really to speak of workers have no rights execept for the right to NOT work, if you are lucky to be working then you have the right to work for NOTHING. If you do have a good paying job out here chances are its in the medical field since theirs always plenty of old people out here dying, so those jobs are in demand. Other than that the situation is pretty dire out here leave while you still can.
Well said Mr. Shane!!!! Oh, but the weather is nice!!!!
The real reason no one can find jobs here, is because they’d rather hire illegals.
I don’t understand why people complain about low pay job. I have lived here for almost 3 years and my annual income is over $100k. I also have bonus and stocks. Try Boeing, Honeywell, First Solar and Intel if you cannot find a decent job here.
May be you have poor education, that can explain why.
Wow Peter,
You make over six figures and you are unable to write a decent paragraph.
I guess English wasnt your strong point.
Consider yourself lucky that you make six figures in this town. Six figures is a rarity here and not attainable for the average joe with a bachelors degree.
ROB,
LOL. it is because I mainly use Schrodinger’s equation and Maxwell’s equation at work. In other word, scientist cannot spell.
(I got a PhD in Electrical Engineering.)
Well Peter most Arizonans and most Americans for that matter do not hold PHDs in science and mathematics. Your education puts you in a specialized high paying field. It is unrealistic to compare yourself to the typical citizen in Arizona. Most Arizonans do not even have a Bachelors. I hold a Bachelors degree and I believe that most people should be able to earn an acceptable living with that much education. This state however only offers low wage jobs unless of course you are employed in a position that requires a rare knowledge base that comes at a premium. Those types of jobs are rare here. That is the problem the state of Arizona has. They have an abundance of low paying jobs that require only a High School Diploma and they have jobs that require a high level of education, nothing in the mid range however. The state lacks jobs paying in the 50-80K range for experienced workers with a college education. The only acception to this seems to be in the medical field.
A few thoughts for you Peter…
First, you fail to realize that you are in the minority in Arizona. Are there six figure jobs in the Phoenix area? Of course, but there aren’t too many of them and the people who have them probably aren’t going anywhere. As Rob stated, there are very, very few mid-level jobs here. Take a look at the average salaries for Arizona and you will see the average salary here is just about at the entry-level salary in a number of other areas. The greater majority of the Arizona workforce is just getting by while a select few are doing very well for themselves.
The high paying jobs at the organizations you named off are extremely technical. Most people in Arizona do not have the experience or education to adequately fulfill the requirements of these jobs. Instead most of these jobs end up being filled by people from within these companies who are transferred to the Phoenix area locations.
You are partially right about one thing and that is that many in Arizona are uneducated. A lot of organizations bypass the Phoenix area because of this. Unfortunately, the people who are really getting screwed in Phoenix are those who only have a Bachelors or Masters degree. These people are the ones who spent all the time and money to advance their education, and are stuck working alongside GED holders in your local call center. It is unfortunate, but that is Arizona for you.
There is always exceptions and just remember you are one of them.
Rob and Admin are correct. My Bachelor’s Degree didn’t amount to much in Phoenix. I had a job that really didn’t require a Bachelor’s Degree, I was living in Phoenix prior to the onset of the current recession, and my employment options were unimpressive. There is a lack of a quality jobs in Phoenix metro. A metro area with a population of around 4 Million should have better quality jobs.
Thanks Admin, you explained it much more clearly then I. The only jobs I can find here are sales jobs, most in call centers. I am one of those with a bachelors that works along side GED holders and career telemarketers. I have been able to work my way up to supervising one of these departments only now the company was bought by a firm in Colorado and now they are pulling out of Scottsdale. Back to searching for another job. Funny thing is I have to dummy down my resume now as I have been told by recruiters and HR people. It seems once you take a management or supervisor role you are not marketable as a sales rep. Problem is management roles are limited so now I have two resumes. One makes me look like a dialing for dollars psycho and the other actually displays my abilities.
Oh ever noticed that when you do an online job search nothing but sales and telemarketing comes up for Phoenix. Go to craigslist and you find sales jobs in all the catagories (even those for admin, acctng, management, software, film TV, creative, etc) This place creates nothing. All they do is ask for people to hock their shit.
Also I have never seen so many of these lame Admissions Counseler (uh really sales jobs) for online colleges in my life. Its like every lame online college established a call center here.
Hey Peter,
Someone should let you know that you would probably increase your pay by 50% by moving to a state with a strong economy. A PhD in EE is worth about $200k on either coast. You could easily make $200k+ here in CO. And therein lies the entire point of this blog my friend. Most people, INCLUDING YOU, are underpaid in AZ.
Ex-Arizonan,
LOL. You miss one important point. You need to consider the cost of living on both coasts. I got my PhD from USC and two companies gave me the same offer: $180,000 with sign up bonus and stocks. However, one is in Phoenix and another one is in Los Angeles. I took the offer from AZ sinced the cost of living is cheaper here. Besides, I pay less income tax and property tax with a cheaper home in AZ.
Besides the base salary of $180,000, every year I also receive three bonuses which are equivalent to ~30% to 33% of my base salary. My house worths about $400k (3400 sq ft with swimming pool, bought it in the beginning of this year) in Chandler. I don’t think I can get that kind of house in LA at all.
At last, I really enjour crusing my Porsche 911 across the valley. :)
Peter your some kind of loser to come on here and brag about what you’ve got monetarily.
You obviously think your better and smarter than we are but you are what makes the valley suck.
Just a bunch of materialistic people who always have to look like they’re millionaires and brag about
What they have to make themselves feel superior. Go back to California!
Jake AZ,
Well, this is so called capitalism unless you prefer socialism or communism.
:)
Do you happen to work for Intel?
Hohoho, usually the medium size Hi Tech companies pay higher than the large size ones.That is all I can tell you. :)
Peter, for all your modesty with your chosen name, buying the biggest things you can bragging about 30% bonuses and stock options, some of us might wonder if you’re the real deal or just over compensating for something else. But it’s besides the point. In all fairness a lot of engineers here in AZ act like total hot shots, I happen to be one but just keep to myself. It’s because we’re so close to California it’s the biggest influence to our culture. You go to more modest areas of the country and it’s not a big deal.
You can be comfortable anywhere with a PhD in EE, why are you wasting your time on this site?
Peter, Indeed we live in capitalist country, but what does that have to do with the fact
that we are having a conversation about the state of our local economy and why residents
can’t find work here? Your statement that why can’t everybody in the valley find a good
job at Honeywell, Ibm, or Boeing is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really think everybody
in this metropolis can just go and get a job like that? And that wasn’t even the most ridiculous
thing you’ve said. Why would you feel the need to tell us all how much money you make
where you went to college and the fact you drive a Porsche? You are on the wrong website.
You have nothing to say that adds anything remotely intellectual to this conversation. It just
Proves there a lot of educated idiots out there!
Hmmm, looks like he’s gone. In all fairness let’s just hope he’s working on more efficient solar panels, some ultra long lasting pacemaker, or some super nanochannel positive spin transistor thingamabob which makes processors more efficient. I suppose if he’s helping the human race out it’s better than being some real estate agent or owning a business where he deliberately pays squat to his employees.
The real issue for the other 99.95% of us making less than $275k/year is it is difficult to get ahead. There appears to be some magic income in which things start to feel comfortable, and for all the crap about the low cost of living it doesn’t seem to change the fact making $60-90k in AZ still doesn’t feel like enough to make it AND save for retirement. The middle class is getting squeezed, but more so in AZ.
Let’s face it: the mortgages and property taxes are not extraordinarily low. We have state income tax. The car registration is ridiculous if you drive a new vehicle, as it’s the percentage of kelley blue book. Car insurance can be ridiculous, especially if you do not pull in a huge paycheck. Cost of food and clothing is not really that much lower, in fact it seems higher than it should be for this region. All combined, it’s really not that cheap.
Oh yeah, don’t forget this….
States filled 30% to 40% of their budget gaps with federal stimulus money. They were allotted about $250 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package, most of which will have been disbursed by the end of next year. The U.S. House on Wednesday passed a separate $154 billion package that includes $23 billion for states to pay teachers’ salaries and $23.5 billion to pick up some state Medicaid costs.
In Arizona, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer convened a special legislative session Thursday to consider about $200 million in spending cuts and fund transfers. Although the state made $452 million in budget cuts and other changes in November, slumping tax collections mean the legislature faces a $1.6 billion shortfall. Arizona took out a $700 million credit line from Bank of America Corp. in November to pay bills, but that credit line was spent within days.
State Treasurer Dean Martin said if the state wasn’t able to raise an expected $737 million next month by selling several buildings, Arizona might have to issue IOUs. The 2010 elections, when 37 governors will be chosen, are complicating the budget fights. In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn recently wanted to borrow an additional $500 million to address a portion of the state’s $4.4 billion in unpaid bills, on top of $2.25 billion in short-term borrowings. But his rival in the Democratic primary, state comptroller Daniel Hynes, blocked the plan.
Only a few states now have cash-flow problems. But if revenues continue to fall below expectations, the list could grow, said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
Quit your whining…if things are so bad for you then you should leave…..All of you sound like big babies….everyone is hurting all over the country…if you want to better yourself only you can do it…not the city or the state you live in!
I have to disagree with you on that one Ryan. I have looked in this state for a job (I have a degree in accounting). Please do know I was offered multiple jobs but the pay was insulting. I was offered between 10-14 bucks an hour. I’m from Texas and guess what I applied for jobs back there and have been offered and have accepted a job making 30 dollars an hour. It does matter where you are located. Not all states are as hard hit as others have been. I have other friends that I have made while here that also have degrees in accounting and are being paid way below what they could be making in other states and are starting to seriously think of moving away. Most are transplants from out of state. I think if you have a degree in the medical fied or engineering or in the military the job market would be OK for you here and you can get a pretty good salary. The only reason I’m here is because I moved with my fiancee whom by the way has a great job as an engineer. I’m leaving he’s staying for the time being to complete having 3 years of upper management experience in his field. Yes it’s tough, but not that tough all over the U.S. I’m proof of that.
Yes its tough and its not the economy that makes it tough. This place has always paid shit wages even during the boom years. Its just how they role here.