Maricopa County No. 1 for Talent Attraction, Fourth Consecutive Year

Both Arizona and Maricopa County scored high for attracting and retaining skilled workers

inbusinessPHX.com

A new report ranks Arizona and Maricopa County as national leaders for adding skilled jobs and workers over the last five years. For the sixth time in the last seven years, Maricopa County claimed the no. 1 spot in the Talent Attraction Scorecard released by Lightcast, a global leader in labor market analytics. The 2023 ranking also marks Maricopa County’s fourth consecutive time leading the nation for attracting talent.

“There’s no better place in the nation for skilled workers than Arizona,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority.

Contributing to the state’s top rankings were high marks in areas such as:

2nd-highest for competitiveness – Maricopa County
3rd-highest job growth – Arizona saw the third-highest percentage job growth, beating out Florida and Texas.
5th highest growth in skilled jobs – Arizona gained the fifth-highest percentage of skilled jobs, which are jobs that require more formal education or advanced training.

Arizona’s attractiveness for new residents factored large in the rankings. Among all U.S. counties, Maricopa County experienced the largest numeric population growth in 2022, with 56,831 new residents added.

The report reflects Arizona’s highly collaborative and innovative workforce development programs and continued attractiveness for advanced companies in sectors such as manufacturing and technology.

In 2021, the state launched Drive48, a state-of-the-art training center south of Phoenix that’s a collaboration among Central Arizona College, Pinal County, and industry. Since opening, more than 2,600 Lucid employees have completed programming, which features hands-on training with assembly robots and other equipment critical to electric vehicle manufacturing.

Building off of Drive48’s success, earlier this year, Governor Hobbs announced the first two of up to six Future48 workforce accelerators. Announced in June, the rural workforce accelerators represent a partnership with Mohave Community College in Kingman and Arizona Western College in Yuma.

In November, Governor Hobbs announced a third Future48 Workforce Accelerator, this one located in Maricopa county and focused on the semiconductor industry.

Also in November, Governor Hobbs also announced key actions to strengthen Arizona’s semiconductor talent pipeline. The initiatives include a first-of-its-kind Registered Apprenticeship Program, a partnership between the ACA, OEO, DES and NXP, an advanced semiconductor manufacturer that operates two fabs in Chandler. The company’s program will start with the industrial manufacturing technician occupation and explore additional occupations in the future.

The state also has pioneered an advanced training curriculum, known as the Arizona Advanced Technology Network, while continuing to invest in skills training at universities and community colleges.