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Jobs in The Valley of the Sun Phoenix, Arizona
Projections for Phoenix-area employment growth were revised downward in the first-quarter in the Greater Phoenix Blue Chip Economic Forecast based on revisions to employment data for 2007 and 2008.
"Downward revisions in the employment numbers were widely expected because surveys tend to overestimate employment when the economy first starts weakening and underestimate employment as a recovery gets underway," economics editor Tracy Clark wrote in the publication.
Growth in 2006 was revised downward to 5.3 percent, or 11,500 jobs, from 6 percent, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce. Growth for 2007 was scaled back to 1 percent from 3.2 percent with year-end employment standing at 1.85 million.
Clark cites the soft housing market as a source of the decline.
Blue Chip economists now peg 2008 employment growth at 1.9 percent, down from 3.1 percent in their third-quarter 2007 report. Growth for 2009 is expected to pick up slightly at 2.3 percent.
The Greater Phoenix Blue Chip Economic Forecast is published quarterly by the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center, an affiliate of the L. William Seidman Research Institute in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
The Valley's industry clusters
According to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, these are the area's industry clusters:
               
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