The Daily Agenda: Retaining a thriving workforce

New job expo reminds young professionals that Southern Arizona is a great place to live and work ... They can sharpen job prep skills, network and more ... Asylum funding may be on the way.

Arizona is expected to add 100,000 new jobs to its workforce by 2025 and 10% of those will be in Pima County, according to a recent report out of the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.

We’ve written a handful of stories about job and workforce training opportunities for teens and young adults, as local, state and national leaders stress the importance of increasing the number of adults with certificates and professional licenses. 

In January, Education Forward Arizona reported that 86% of the state’s voters support an initiative called Achieve60AZ, which aims to see at least 60% of working-age adults completing education beyond high school by 2030.

Many of the new jobs in the state will be in fields requiring some type of postsecondary education, including health care, construction and various trades, but with just about every industry clamoring to fill vacant positions, even good jobs like these have plenty of competition.

That’s why a new job expo wants to remind attendees that Southern Arizona is a pretty great place to live and work, while also connecting businesses with job seekers and offering workshops, keynote speakers, networking, food trucks and more.

“There’s a brain drain in Southern Arizona and a lot of high-end personnel are leaving for other big cities,” Danh Truong, Managing Partner for expo organizer Proper Villains, told the Tucson Agenda. “We want to remind workers that you don’t have to leave to find great opportunities.”

The inaugural ME+ Jobs event on Wednesday, April 3 will focus on careers in the medical (including veterinary,) engineering and mining industries, but organizers are hoping to add a new field each year.

The free event takes place at the Tucson Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the Southern Arizona Regional Science Engineering Fair serving as its non-profit benefactor. This means that a portion of every booth fee will be donated directly to SARSEF and students will also attend the event to get a jumpstart on their own career marketing.

Participating businesses include Lunasonde, Dependable Health Services, Freeport-McMoRan and more than a dozen others.

In addition to workshops focusing on resume building, interview prep and dressing for success, ME+ Jobs will also include keynote speeches about the local housing market and the development of Southern Arizona’s sports, tourism and film industries.

During the housing keynote, attendees will learn about the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in the local market and hear about housing affordability and investment opportunities.

Later in the day, representatives from the Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism and Film Authority will talk about initiatives, programs and strategies driving economic growth in the engineering sector.

And along that vein of engineering, Truong said it’s also important to remind people of Tucson’s thriving tech industry and need for qualified workers to help advance efforts in solar power, space exploration and more, Truong said.

“People don’t realize, but we’re building mini satellites here. There’s also the Mars mission control work and the mirror lab,” he said.

On the medical side, there are a lot of job opportunities working outside of hospitals, and veterinary jobs range from small animals to exotics, with organizations like the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Reid Park Zoo right here in town.

“One of the benefits of home health is that you’re working with patients one-on-one and can focus on one patient at a time,” Truong said. “For new grads who are concerned they don’t know how to do all this stuff, there’s a huge network of support via technology. They should be looking at it as a first career.”

With Arizona’s 2.6% growth rate in employment in 2023 –– 13% higher than the national –– Gov. Katie Hobbs thinks the outlook is positive, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reported earlier this month. Hobbs pointed to an initiative to increase the number of trade and construction apprentices and partnership with community colleges to train workers for jobs in technology and advanced manufacturing.

“I am thrilled to report that under my administration more Arizonans are working than at any point in state history,” Hobbs said.

But that doesn’t mean the work is done, Truong said, and keeping skilled workers in town should be a priority for employers, since many of these are jobs that can be done just about anywhere. With all that competition, selling young professionals on Tucson’s other great features can be just as important as other negotiables, like salary and benefits.

“We have wine tours and skiing, biking and hiking,” Truong said. “It’s about showing what we have to offer and conveying that message that Southern Arizona is a great place to have home-life balance.”

We’d love to add to economic growth in our industry here at the Tucson Agenda! All we need to hire more reporters is more paid subscribers.

Asylum funds incoming: It looks like asylum funding is going to come through in the recently negotiated federal funding bill, KVOA’s Megan Spector reports. Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema said they were able to include $650 million for the federal program that provides funds for local efforts to support asylum seekers. Those funds were set to run out at the end of the month, which local officials worried would lead to hundreds of asylum seekers being released on the streets of Tucson and other areas every day.

Candidates arrive: School board elections in Pima County are filling up with candidates, the Arizona Daily Star’s Jessica Votipka reports. There are 43 candidates for 48 open seats, which is a little higher than it was in 2022. So far, nobody has signed up to run in the Ajo Unified, Altar Valley, Baboquivari Unified, and Continental Elementary districts.

Opening statements: The trial of a man accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man who was on his land after crossing the border began last week, Arizona Public Media’s Danyelle Khmara reports. Prosecutors said Nogales rancher George Alan Kelly sent “out of nowhere, a barrage of semi automatic assault rifle fire” at a group of migrants as they crossed his land. Kelly’s lawyer said he saw a group of men with guns and he fired over their heads to scare them.

GOP rival: Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, the lone Republican on the board of supervisors, has his first Republican challenger for the District 4 seat, county records show. Callie Basham Tippett threw her hat in the ring, but she still has to gather enough signatures by April 1 to get on the ballot, as does Democratic challenger Vanessa Bechtol.

New face: Saguaro National Park has a new superintendent, Scripps News’ Douglas Jones reports. Scott Stonum is taking the reins at the park, which covers 143 square miles on either side of Tucson. Stonum has worked at seven national parks over his 35-year career.

New district: Tucson is getting its first international dining and entertainment district, known as Z Street, the Star’s Cathalena Burch reports. Along a stretch of Broadway near Treat Avenue, Zemam’s Ethiopian Cuisine is expanding and a new international bar, Zerai’s, is coming in next door. Later this year, there’ll be Zidamo coffee house and space for international food trucks. Burch tells the tale of the families and business histories that led to the new Afro-centric district.

2-4: The inches of snow that fell on Mt. Lemmon over the past few days, with more on the way.