Hiring in the Phoenix metro continues at a strong pace in normally slow July, according to the Employment Report from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). The significant job gains are turning the Valley into a migration magnet.

Although the unemployment rate, 4.3 percent, remained the same as 2017, the Phoenix area workforce grew 3.1 percent to approach 2.1 million employed. The jobs being created are primarily in higher wage occupations. This trend is reflected in the quarterly wages for the Phoenix area, which keep rising faster than the national average, and keeps the Valley among the top-ranked metros.

Arizona added 72,400 jobs in July compared with July 2017. Phoenix, which houses 75 percent of the state’s workforce, generated 87 percent of the new jobs, adding 61,300 new positions, while Tucson added 7,400.

“Arizona is not seeing significant job growth in rural areas or Tucson,” said Jim Rounds, president of Rounds Consulting Group. “We’ll see some upturn in southern Arizona with defense spending increases and when retirements open positions.”

The market’s accelerated job creation is one reason the Valley once more was at the top of the charts for population growth in U.S. Census estimates released earlier this year. Phoenix is on the leading edge of job gains in year-over-year data.

Rounds said that the Valley’s diverse employment base and its basic amenities makes it attractive to a younger workforce. He said it will take a longer time for rural areas to catch up.

“It’s a trend across the country,” he said. “Younger workers are preferring urban settings.”

Rounds points out that Phoenix has made solid gains in key employment sectors. He notes how job gains in business services, technology and financial services put Phoenix in the top of rankings in those sectors.

The economist is joined by others in noting the shift in the Phoenix employment base. Major gains are being made in bio- and life-sciences and technology. The existence of strong clusters of tech workers is cited by companies choosing to locate or expand in the Valley.

“Phoenix ranks third among metro areas in job growth in the professional and scientific technology growth. Hiring hit 5.7 percent last year,” said Lee McPheters, research professor and director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “The (Bureau of Labor Statistics) ranks Phoenix fifth in total number of professional, scientific and technology jobs in 2017.”

In July, OEO and BLS reported the professional and business services sector added 11,700 jobs year-over-year. That included 5,700 in professional, scientific and technical sectors. The demand for a skilled workforce even led to 2,000 new hires in employment services.

“Manufacturing is very strong in Phoenix and elsewhere in Arizona,” said Dennis Hoffman, professor, W.P. Carey School of Business and director of the L. William Seidman Research Institute, Arizona State University. “Phoenix has been leading in growth in this sector.”

Manufacturers added 7,400 jobs in July, a six percent increase over 2017. This marked the 16th consecutive month of job growth in the manufacturing industry, while the rest of the U.S. didn’t start seeing steady increases until May 2018.

“The quality job growth in Phoenix is also a result of the cities and their relationships with ASU and other colleges,” said Rounds. “I don’t think Tucson has ever leveraged resources at University of Arizona. A strong connection between a city and college is a necessary economic and public policy. You can see the results in Phoenix.”

Construction hiring continues to thrive, adding 13,000 new jobs in July, 5,900 each in building construction and specialty trades.

“Construction hiring reflects the strength of the Phoenix market,” said Rounds. “This is so different than 15 years ago when construction defined the Valley economy.”

The employment trends in high value and higher wage jobs have been ongoing in Phoenix for nearly a year, according to OEO employment reports. The increased number of higher wage jobs has started pushing up average wages in the Valley. Phoenix led the nation in 2017 with a 7.8 percent average wage increase. Current BLS numbers are not as robust, but show better-than-national average wage hikes in almost all sectors.

“The trend to hire highly skilled and high wage workers is going to continue, barring a recession or unexpected economic downturn event,” said Hoffman. “There’s always a little ebb and flow, but the increase in top-market jobs will begin driving demand for mid level and support positions.”

Hoffman said that companies tend to rehire the specialty skill positions first after a recession, and then fill in needed mid level positions. Those hires are drawing new populations into the Valley.

“Most people think new residents to the Valley are coming from other states,” said McPheters. “(W.P. Carey) data show that the largest single source is not California, but other Arizona counties.”

Hoffman said that there are tremendous restrictions in rural areas and it skews job growth into urban areas.

“Rural areas face challenges in Arizona,” he said. “The young are moving to urban areas. Without a workforce, it’s hard to attract a company.”

Hoffman said that there are some good signs for rural areas.

“Mining can make a comeback in the future, and that brings in rural jobs,” he said.

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Second of two parts: How ADOT and MAG plan to cut congestion and how you can help

Valley commuters’ pain is being felt by those who can make a difference in how long it takes to get to work.

Transportation planners for Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) are developing ways to reduce traffic congestion during peak travel times – the morning and evening rush hour.

“If (freeway) traffic all flowed at the same speed, most congestion would be avoided,” said John Halikowski, ADOT director. “When one person taps brakes, it causes a chain reaction, and vehicles slow down for quite a distance. It takes a long time for that traffic to come back up to speed.”

Transportation planners often say that traffic flows like water—it looks for the route of least resistance—and in metro areas where there are few options, Ram Pendyala, professor of transportation engineering and director of University Transportation Center at Arizona State University, says that all traffic ends up on one of a few freeways. This is the cause of long times spent in congestion, he said, in metros like Atlanta, Austin, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.

“In Phoenix, there are multiple options because of the street grid,” said Eric Anderson, MAG executive director. “The distributed employment centers also provide multiple destinations for commuters.”

With Maricopa County being the fastest-growing U.S. county, and one of the best job markets for new hires in the nation, traffic is increasing as well. ADOT and MAG are readying programs that will help reduce congestion without significant road improvements.

“We’ve got a number of ideas being pursued,” Anderson said. “One, dynamic ramp metering, is already in place on the (State Route) 51. Others are being planned, but were put on hold until after the high-priority ‘wrong way driver’ warning program was put into effect.”

Dynamic ramp metering still allows one vehicle per lane on a green metering light, but instead of the lights flashing in regular rhythm, the lights are timed to allow traffic to enter the freeway when there is capacity on the through lanes to accommodate the entering vehicle. Traffic can be held longer if the freeway were congested awaiting the right slot for one or two vehicles to merge.

Another ongoing MAG congestion-busting program is assignment of Department of Public Safety officers in the Valley’s traffic control center. DPS officers can literally watch for accidents and traffic situations and dispatch emergency responders within minutes.

“In Arizona, only a sworn officer can dispatch an ambulance or tow truck when there is an accident,” Anderson explains. “In the past, this meant someone would call 9-1-1, describe the scene and the first responding officer would handle other emergency response dispatch upon arrival. Now, with the officer in the control center, he can see the situation as it is unfolding, and instantly get the right crews, the right size tow truck, and emergency medical personnel to the location quickly.”

The DPS co-location program has been so effective, ADOT is deploying it statewide.

Changing driver habits is one inexpensive way to decrease traffic congestion, according to both Halikowski and Anderson. Traffic flows groups of vehicles called “platoons.” If a trailing platoon is moving faster than the one ahead of it, the lead cars in the trailing group will catch up to the first platoon. Lead drivers In the faster group then need to tap brakes to slow. Every following vehicle is forced to brake. The sudden slowdown – in addition to causing periodic rear-end accidents, according to traffic experts – slows traffic for miles while the platoons struggle back to speed.

Sometimes it seems traffic just clogs in the same place for no apparent reason. Anderson said one not-so-apparent reason is weaving and dodging by vehicles trying to enter and exit the freeway.

“It’s a major reason that the Broadway Curve on Interstate 10 is such a challenge. Weaving to get into position destroys traffic throughput,” said Anderson. “(ADOT and MAG) are looking at designs to rebuild the ramp structure and avoid the weaving in that area.”

The area Anderson references is the combination of a sharp curve and a tight convergence of interchanges from S.R. 143, U.S. 60, Broadway Road and I-10. All these interchanges hit the interstate in a two-mile segment known as the “Broadway Curve.” Vehicles are trying to jockey on and off the freeway in a highly compact area.

“Look at S.R. 143 and I-10. Traffic drops to a crawl to circle around the interchange to eastbound I-10,” he said. “We’re looking at ways to redesign the entire area. We’ll have new ramps, flyovers, and other features to reduce weaving. That will speed up traffic in that area.”

Used in a limited way on I-17 between Cordes Junction and Anthem on the steep mountain curves, ADOT is exploring variable speed limit systems on freeways. As traffic increases or weather changes on I-17, speeds are changed on digital speed limit signs to slow traffic on the accident-prone stretches of the interstate.

South of Phoenix, ADOT is exploring the same type of system for I-10 between Casa Grande and Chandler to vary speeds to as low as 35 mph, depending on visibility. Variable speed limits could be used in urban areas to slow traffic ahead of congestion and reduce brake usage.

“If everyone would go the same speed,” Anderson agrees with Halikowski. “We’d see a lot less congestion on the freeways.”

Changing driver habits is an inexpensive, and first-line approach to maintaining Phoenix’s best commute time and least time spent in congestion rankings among major metro areas. It would also have an immediately visible effect. The other changes are going to take time and money to deploy over the next few years.

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First of two parts. Today, Phoenix’s short commute times mean more hiring prospects and broader housing opportunities

Sitting in the eastbound Interstate 10 “parking lot” at 7:40 a.m. may make it difficult to accept that metro Phoenix has the best commute times among the top 25 metro areas.

It’s what data from the U.S. Census Bureau and private transportation data analyst Inrix are showing: Phoenix metro has the shortest commute times and the least time spent in congestion among the top metro areas.

This means Valley drivers get to work or home faster than other top 25 metro areas, and for employers, it means there is a more accessible workforce than other metros. It’s an average, so the data include the thousands who walk to work in downtown Phoenix as well as drivers from the West Valley heading to the East Valley.

“The average person will tolerate a 40-minute commute,” said Glen Weisbrod, president of Economic Development Research Group, one of the researchers on the Inrix study released in February 2018. “If a commuter spends a lot of time in congestion, it reduces the distance people want to live from where they work.”

Valley residents have an average 26-minute daily commute, according to 2017 U.S. Census data. Inrix analysis says they spend 34 hours a year in congestion, or about 7 minutes a day, roughly 25 percent of the time spent commuting. In Los Angeles, the average commute is 29 minutes per day, but the time spent in congestion averages 29 minutes a day, essentially, every minute of the daily commute.

“If there is reduced time spent in congestion, it widens the labor market for an employer,” said Weisbrod. “If the commute time is 40 to 50 minutes of hesitation, it significantly reduces the distance from work someone can live to maintain a ‘reasonable’ commute time.”

Congestion, according to Ram Pendyala, professor of transportation engineering, and director of university transportation at Arizona State University, is any time a commuter is traveling less than 65 percent of the posted speed limit. Congestion occurs at 42 mph on a 65 mph freeway segment, or 29 mph on a 45 mph speed limit posted on a Valley arterial.

“It’s a quality of life issue,” said Pendyala. “When congestion times are low, people have a wider range of choosing where to live. When congestion time is almost the same as commute times, people have to live closer to work to have the same commute time.”

In Phoenix, the transportation network offers many alternatives in driving routes and public transportation. The flexibility means more people live and work within that “tolerable” commute time of 40 minutes.

“People do not want long commutes,” said Weisbrod. “Heavy traffic cuts the labor market for employers.”

Effectively, in the Valley, nearly 90 percent of the workforce lives within 40 minutes of the Valley’s employment centers. In Los Angeles metro, the number is under 15 percent. In San Francisco metro, fewer than 10 percent live within 40 minutes of workplaces.

“We have a diversity of employment centers,” said Eric Anderson, executive director, Maricopa Association of Governments. “And we have a lot of different ways to get to destinations.”

Anderson points out that while the freeway system, first envisioned in 1958, moves large numbers of vehicles, it is the Valley’s agricultural heritage to thank for the alternatives.

“Many of the Valley farms were 640 acres (one square mile), and the road system was in place to bring produce and cattle to market,” said Anderson. “That gave us our mile- and half-mile grid system. The grid system means a driver can find another way to get to a destination if the freeway is clogged or one road is slow.”

The MAG executive director also cites the fact that workplaces tend to cluster in the Valley.

“In older markets, the transportation system was designed to move people to and from downtown,” he said. “In Phoenix we have dispersed employment centers all over the Valley, which help distribute the traffic,”

There are disparities, such as the acknowledgment that nearly two of three West Valley residents commute east every day. However, that congestion potential is changing with new employment clusters developing in Goodyear, Glendale and Surprise, according to Sintra Hoffman, president and CEO of Westmarc.

“What our workforce strategy shows is that (the West Valley has) a strong workforce in health care, advanced manufacturing and financial services,” said Hoffman. “Clearly health care, manufacturing, data centers and innovation centers are finding they can locate in the West Valley and find the workforce ready to hire closer to homes.”

Pendyala said the alternatives for Valley commuters make a big difference compared to markets like Los Angeles or Atlanta, Georgia. The latter metro has among the worst congestion times in the nation and one of the longest commutes for a top 25 metro.

“Phoenix route options for drivers reduce freeway dependence,” he said. “It’s not like some cities where commuters are all forced on to one or two routes with no options. If something blocks traffic, large portions of the metro grinds to a halt.”

Another factor, according to both Anderson and Pendyala, is Phoenix has a diverse travel demographic. It’s not all concentrated into conventional rush hour.

“We see more people traveling on the shoulders of peak traffic hours,” said Pendyala. “There is a non-traditional work market here, and that bodes well for commute times.”

Anderson said that Phoenix’s youth as a city also contributes to its better commute times.

“We have a fairly new freeway system in the Valley,” he said. “Combine the freeways and the arterial grid, there are a lot of options and alternatives no matter where one is traveling.

More options are on the way, as the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, the only new freeway being built in the U.S., will create a new link to avoid downtown traffic on I-10.

“It will help provide relief for downtown traffic on I-10,” said Anderson. “So will the future S.R. 30 freeway.”

The latter is in planning stages and, when built, will take traffic off I-10 west of Buckeye and direct it through the logistics centers and onto South Mountain Freeway.

In part 2, ADOT, MAG, county, cities prepare for the next generation of traffic management.

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Companies in the Phoenix metro hired 61,400 new employees during June 2018 compared to 2017. During the same period the combined San Francisco-Silicon Valley metro areas added 39,300 new hires.

If there is any question of how the economics of business in California are impacting its job growth, the June hiring numbers lay bare the difference between Arizona and California. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provide the underlying data for Arizona job numbers, says California added 89,100 jobs in June to its 17.1 million person workforce, compared with Arizona’s addition of 70,700 to its 2.7 million person workforce.

The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metro nearly captured 90 percent of all new jobs created in Arizona. The state saw its unemployment rate hold steady at 4.7 percent compared to May 2018 and June 2017. The Valley logged an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent compared to 4.4 percent last June. California is also at 4.2 percent. This according to data from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.

The Valley’s workforce nearly hit 2.06 million, up from 1.99 million a year earlier. Notably, much of the overall jobs growth is taking place in high-wage industry sectors. New BLS data show more quality jobs, higher wages, and lower unemployment rates in Arizona; all promising indicators for the future, and a trend Arizona leaders want to continue.

“California has an uncompetitive economic development structure, but they have high value, highly skilled tech workers; that’s why this area grows there,” said Jim Rounds, president, Rounds Consulting Group. “I wouldn’t compare Phoenix to San Francisco. We’re more an improving community based on a high volume of diverse jobs. But it’s important that our job growth is in industries paying higher wages.”

While California’s hiring grew 1.6 percent in June, Arizona jumped 3.0 percent in private sector hiring. Government employment dipped in both states. The Phoenix metro hiring increased 3.1 percent.

The technology hiring is driving increases in other industries, according to Scott Anderson, chief economist with Bank of the West, in an interview with the East Bay Times.

Valley advanced business services, financial services and technology companies increased workforce by 15,000 jobs over June 2017. The average individual wage, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) May 2018 data, topped $60,000 in these sectors.

Chris Camacho, president and CEO of Greater Phoenix Economic Council, sees this trend continuing.

“We have more than 300 companies looking at Phoenix,” he said. “The quality and diversity of the workforce is seen by companies as a good place to land. Companies sited here for a while are scaling up hires in Phoenix as opposed to California.”

Overall, advanced industries still represent about 60 percent of the metro workforce, compared to 58 percent last June and 48.5 percent in October 2007, the highest employment month before the Great Recession.

Private education and health services added 14,800 jobs year-over-year, with nearly 10,000 in the health care, bio and life sciences sectors. These are in addition to the 6,000 new professional, scientific and technology jobs added to the Phoenix market. BLS says jobs in these sectors have average wages over $90,000 per year for the metro.

In the San Francisco-Silicon Valley area, the two metros saw most of the jobs in high wage, technology jobs. In the Phoenix metro the jobs are more diverse with gains across a number of important advanced industry sectors.

Manufacturing gained 7,600 jobs over 2017, the 16th consecutive month of employment gains for Phoenix area companies, despite manufacturing job losses in most metro areas. Local manufacturers have posted job gains in 19 of the last 20 months.

Construction hiring in the metro was also significant, up 10 percent over 2017 by adding 14,600 jobs in year-over-year comparisons; 4,500 in June alone. More than half, 7,500 of the jobs, were in specialty trades.

“These numbers are very encouraging,” Arizona �鶹��ýӳ�� of Commerce and Industry President and CEO Glenn Hamer said. “The Arizona economy is strong, but let’s remember there are potential threats on the horizon, including a trade war and ballot initiatives in the fall that could do tremendous damage to our ability to maintain such a strong jobs picture.”

Despite heading into the summer slow season, the leisure and hospitality sector added 8,900 jobs. Dining and drinking establishments added 11,500 jobs compared to last year, but arts, entertainment and recreation shed 2,600 jobs to drop the net gains.

Government was the only other sector to reduce workforce, dropping 700 employees in June 2017 over 2016.

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A record workforce of nearly 2 million were employed in metro Phoenix at the end of 2017 and management positions make up the fastest-growing group in the Valley.

That’s the word from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks jobs by standard occupational codes based on filings with state employment offices. In Arizona, the Office of Economic Opportunity tallies those.

During the past year, more than 15,700 workers were promoted or added into new management positions in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area, a 14.1 percent year-over-year increase, averaging nearly $105,000. The fact that so many new hires took managerial roles reflect the caliber of jobs being grown in Phoenix.

“This is typical of what we’re seeing from industries locating in the Valley,” said Chris Camacho, president and CEO of Greater Phoenix Economic Council. “Companies are starting to find some markets to be unaffordable for expansion. Phoenix is highly competitive in terms of operating costs, taxes and workforce quality. Companies with a presence in the market are scaling up and moving or hiring highly skilled and high-level staff instead of expanding at their headquarters.”

The major wage gains overall came in the advanced industries – business services, technology, bio- and life-sciences, manufacturing, and health care. Wages in these sectors were up 6.3 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. That increase is 50 percent more than the average wage increase in all sectors combined.

“It’s really a function of the labor market,” said Jim Rounds, economist and president of Rounds Consulting Group. “Normally in a recession, low wage jobs are the first jobs companies shed. Firms will hang on to the highly trained and skilled staff as long as possible. In the Great Recession, businesses ended up losing many high value workers. The cost of replacing this human capital is big, and companies wait to rehire for those positions.”

He said that the recession’s depth made companies less willing to rehire or find new high value employees until there was economic certainty supported by growth. The significant economic growth in Phoenix, measured by a double-the-national average gross domestic product increase, created certainty for opening up the high value jobs.

“The wage gains for those jobs shows economic efficiency and the tightening labor market,” Rounds said.

Since 2012, when Arizona was still near the trough of job losses from the recession, more than 250,000 jobs were created by the end of 2017, topping the job losses during the previous five years.

As Rounds points out, most hiring came in easy-to-train and lower value employment between 2012 and 2016. Over 70,000 administrative support and customer service jobs were filled during that period.

But between 2016 and 2017, the quality of the jobs greatly improved. The vast majority of the 45,000 jobs created during that stretch were deemed “high value,” a state term meaning the average wage exceeded the Maricopa County income average. Nearly 38,000 high value jobs in all, which explains why average Valley wages rose so quickly in one year.

Last year, the average Valley family income topped national average at over $53,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2017, Phoenix’s 7.8 percent average income hike was the highest in the U.S., which also pushed local wages higher than the national average for the first time – ever.

Camacho is not concerned that Phoenix is leaving its low-priced reputation behind.

“Companies look at the quality of our community college and university graduates, and they see a sustainable workforce in place for today and for their future growth,” he said. “This is not a saturated market for talent.”

Between 2012 and 2016, administrative and support positions saw wages rise around 6 percent to average more than $35,000 per year, well below the $48,000 average Valley wage. In 2017, high value jobs saw average wages jump 6.3 percent in one year alone. The average wage of new high value jobs coming into the market is expected to cross the $67,000 mark, compared to the 2017 average Valley wage of just over $50,000.

The tight labor market also draws more workers into the Phoenix area. In 2017, Phoenix and San Antonio, Texas, saw the most population growth, each averaging 60 new residents per day. Good jobs with competitive pay and affordable housing attract folks to Phoenix.

The percentage increase of new jobs also tells a story. Precision manufacturing saw incremental year-over-year gains of 250 to 1,000 percent since 2012. Manufacturing in Phoenix has been a shining employment star with May 2018 marking the 14th consecutive month of hiring increases across the sector. This compares to declines or flat numbers across the nation.

“What’s important for Phoenix is that many, in fact, most, of the manufacturers are small and family-owned businesses,” said Rounds. “It’s part of the market job diversification that makes Phoenix more resilient for the next economic downtown.”

“The state and cities have made a concerted effort to recruit advanced industries,” said Camacho. “These companies help insulate the local economy from the recession impacts we’ve seen in the past. Their jobs are more stable, they pay higher wages, and our competitive market makes Phoenix a good choice.”

The pipeline of new or relocating employers or major expansions, according to Camacho, is bigger for 2018-19 than it was for 2017-18.

“There are more than 300 companies looking at the market,” he said.

What makes Phoenix more appealing to companies is the infrastructure. Both Camacho and Rounds cite efforts to expand transportation systems, increase transportation options, and have key infrastructure capable of handling company expansion and development needs.

“The infrastructure investment was a catalyst,” said Camacho. “You look at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, Marina Heights, the Price Corridor. Major companies see this strategy and know that this is a sign of progressive local and state government investment.”

The efforts at quality by cities and the state resulted in attracting companies bringing in high value jobs. As career opportunities increase in the Valley, it becomes more appealing to workers to move here. In 2017, Arizona ranked eighth in the number of new residents with higher education degrees, according to Brookings Institute.

It may sound odd, but if wage increases are a reason a worker might pursue a new career, animal trainers had the largest increase in 2017 over 2016, nearly doubling to an average wage of $43,260.

“Competitive,” is how a spokesperson for OdySea Aquarium in Scottsdale described its wages. OdySea opened late in 2016, and the adjoining Dolphinaris Arizona opened shortly afterwards. The two added an undisclosed number of positions falling into the animal trainer category. Combined with new hires at the Phoenix Zoo and other Valley facilities, 50 new animal trainers and animal keepers found jobs in the Valley and, perhaps, bigger paychecks.

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Arizona had one of the highest national increases in personal income for the first quarter of 2018. The state saw personal income rise 5.5 percent, compared to the national rate of 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Only three other states had higher increases: Washington (7.4 percent), Utah (6.0 percent) and Kentucky (5.7 percent). Arizona tied with Colorado for fourth in the nation.

The metric includes all components of personal income—earnings, property income, investment income and transfer receipts. In Arizona, wages and earnings were up 4.91 percent for the quarter, compared to 3.72 percent for the national average. The state ranked 7th in wage growth compared to 2017.

Advanced industries—manufacturing, healthcare and life-sciences, education, technology, and advanced business and financial services—accounted for 61 percent of the increase in wages during the quarter. Real estate, construction, and retail, the pre-recession economic drivers for Arizona, added only 24 percent to the wage hikes. The balance of the increase came from tourism and government wages.

Arizona economic developers have focused on attracting and growing these sectors because the jobs are more recession-resistant, pay higher than the state average wage, and provide career track opportunities for workers. It has taken a decade, but month-after-month employment and wage data are showing a dramatic pivot in the Arizona economy.

While wages statewide didn’t grow as fast as the Phoenix metro, which at 7.8 percent was BEA’s fastest-growing metro in wage increases, the numbers carried forward the trend of the state’s economic pivot to production employment driving the economy.

The high wage offerings also appear to be driving the increased migration to Arizona and Phoenix. For 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau said that Phoenix was tied with San Antonio, Texas, at 60 for the average number of people moving into the city every day.

The wage trends match the state’s shift in employment. In May 2018, more than 60 percent of the workforce had jobs in advanced industries. This compares with less than half the workforce in those fields in 2007, the year of highest employment prior to the Great Recession.

The economic pivot represents an effort started during the recession by a coalition of Valley mayors, and moved to the state policy level by Gov. Doug Ducey. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics workforce data from 2007 and 2017, no other state so dramatically shifted the workforce base of its economy during the decade.

“This sort of upward trajectory on personal income is really encouraging,” Arizona �鶹��ýӳ�� of Commerce and Industry spokesperson Garrick Taylor said. “It demonstrates that Arizona is doing a good job attracting the sort of quality, high-paying jobs that states around the country compete hard for. It shows that our state can go toe-to-toe with anyone.”

Arizona’s strengths have come with growth in advanced business services—financial services and technology—to the point that BBC News reported the Phoenix metro ranks third in the number of financial service and technology workers, and will surpass second-ranked Wall Street by 2020. Dallas, Texas, has the most financial services and technology employees in the U.S. During 2017, finserve and fintech businesses hired more new workers than any other metro in the U.S., including Wall Street.

Manufacturing in the state has continued to outpace the nation, increasing workforce for 14 consecutive months as of May, 2018, and upping the employment numbers in 17 of the last 19 months.

The construction sector is relishing its new role as an industry serving the Arizona economic growth, as opposed to driving it, as was the case prior to 2007. However, the construction workforce is still more than 60,000 fewer in 2018 than it was in 2007.

The Valley is becoming a globally-recognized center of bio- and life-sciences discovery. In the first quarter, more than 9,400 scientists, doctors and researchers held jobs on the Downtown Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

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