Does Arizona have enough skilled workers to keep up with housing demand?
Research Professor and Economist Lee McPheters says we're relying on the labor market and Arizona hasn't been a hot market for the construction industry.
It's not unusual for significant growth to happen immediately after a recession. The census data released in March show Phoenix is No. 1 in the nation for population growth. Though the numbers are a good sign, there are concerns the Valley doesn't have enough skilled workers to build new apartments and homes quickly and efficiently to accommodate new residents.
To learn more about Arizona's job market and the impact on construction, Research Professor and Economist Lee McPheters was interviewed on 91.5 KJZZ on July 21, 2017:
We often survey business owners, and one of their top concerns is the difficulty of attracting qualified workers, but they really ought to finish that sentence, which is the difficulty of attracting qualified workers at the rate they want to pay. Arizona construction wages are still quite a bit behind some of our competitors like Dallas and Denver, for example. Construction workers probably don't put Arizona at the top of their list when it comes to possible job opportunities when that market is so hot right now.
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