The Arizona Daily Star’s annual listing of the top employers in Southern Arizona shows overall employment grew by less than one percent in the last year.
The numbers, published Sunday in the Star 200 report, show growth of 0.7 percent in full-time equivalent positions. Some sectors are growing more rapidly than others, said David Wichner, the assistant business editor at the Star.
Aerospace and high-tech industries continue strong growth, he said.
Bombardier, B/E Aerospace and Sargent Aerospace and Defense were among the growing companies, Wichner said.
“Overall that sector grew 10 percent in Southern Arizona,” he said.
While there was a slight decline in public sector government employment, Wichner said the outright affects of the federal budget cuts known as sequestration are yet to be calculated. If local companies make cuts, based on the budget cuts that went into effect in March, those would show up in next year’s Star 200 report, he said.
However, there may be indirect impacts, he said.
“The economists have talked about how it’s maybe led to more cautious hiring, for example, so we might already be seeing the effects of that just in more flat hiring,” he said.
The Star focused on workforce development in its report this year, Wichner said. Some employers noted in the employment report that they see a need for work skills in employees as soon as they graduate from high school.
“One comment was just getting people to understand that they need to show up to work on time is a challenge,” he said.
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