Southern Arizona Economic Development – 2016 Year in Review

This was a good year for economic development announcements in Pima County and 2017 promises to be even better.

In March 2016, it was announced that Arizona had finally recovered all of the jobs we lost during the Great Recession—and that’s no accident, all thanks to the entrepreneurs and business owners across our state who make economic growth a reality.

Arizona’s common-sense tax and regulatory policies have successfully attracted several well-known companies to Arizona over the past two years. In Phoenix metro, McKesson Corporation (currently #5 on the Fortune 500), Dot Foods (the largest food redistributor in the United States), and Rogers Corporation (a global leader in engineered materials solutions) are only three examples of companies that have either relocated or expanded to Arizona this year, bringing with them thousands of new jobs and a huge economic impact.

In fact, Arizona’s GDP reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2016, having grown 23.4 percent “since the darkest days of the Great Recession,” according to Governor Doug Ducey.

Arizona jumped three rankings in Chief Executive Magazine’s list of best places in the country to do business. The magazine praised Arizona, now standing at #6, as a “hidden gem” and specifically cited our state’s positive change in business-friendly policies.

Southern Arizona, in particular the Tucson metro area, finally gathered some momentum. In particular, Tucson’s job growth began to accelerate this year and looks set to carry even faster growth into 2017 and 2018. A 1.4 percent growth this year, and then to a 2.0 percent range projected for 2017 and 2018.

“Those growth rates translate into 5,300 net new jobs this year, 7,100 in 2017, and 7,600 in 2018,” George Hammond, Economic and Business Research Center Director at UA Eller College said in December at the Annual Economic Forecast, reflecting on the announcements made this year for new jobs coming to the area. Major companies include the Raytheon expansion (2,000 jobs over 5 years), Caterpillar Surface Mining and Techonolgy expansion (600 jobs over 5 years), Vector Space Systems (200 jobs over 3 years) and Asensus (150 jobs) all announced their plans this year to expand in Southern Arizona.

“Tucson is experiencing incredible economic growth as a result of industry-leading companies  creating hundreds of high-quality jobs in the region,” said Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

Involved in negotiations for these deals were the Arizona Commerce Authority, economic development group Sun Corridor, Pima County, the Rio Nuevo District and the City of Tucson, Governor Ducey said.

We could not be more pleased and congratulate them on their success. Tucson does look to be headed toward a stronger economic performance in 2017 and coming years.

WATCH the video below as Ben Cordani, Lead Human Resources Manager for Caterpillar’s Surface and Mining Technology Division, talks about what made Tucson so appealing for their expansion.