Chandler-Gilbert Faculty Receives Educator of the Year Award

Engineering faculty member Bassam Matar of Chandler-Gilbert Community College was selected as the 2010 EE (Electronic Engineering) Times ACE Award Educator of the Year. Bassam was recognized for his work with Avnet Inc. as part of a faculty externship program through the High Tech Workforce Initiative (HTWI), an NSF-funded grant managed by the Center for Workforce Development. HTWI has proven to be a valued contributor to Maricopa's outreach effort in the high tech sector as well as the catalyst for a number of significant efforts in the areas of curriculum and faculty development. Most notably, the industry based externship activities have afforded faculty members from many of our colleges to expand their expertise and develop new classroom curriculum which are more closely aligned with current and future industry needs.

Nominated by Avnet, the award recognized the outstanding quality of Bassam's work and his commitment to his students. He received the award at a ceremony held in conjunction with the Embedded System Conference in San Jose on April 27th. Also noteworthy is that Bassam's selection marks the first time the Educator of the Year award was given to a community college faculty member. Prior recipients of the award come from Purdue University (2009), the University of San Francisco (2008), San Jose State University (2007), and Southern Methodist University (2006). EE Times has been the electronics industry newspaper of record for over 30 years, with a weekly distribution to more than 150,000 design and development engineers and technical managers.

Public Workforce System Team Partners with Access Points

As a joint venture with both the City of Phoenix and Maricopa Workforce Investment systems, MCCCD will be piloting Access Points at several colleges. Access Points consist of faith-based or community organizations where job seekers can go in their own neighborhoods or communities to look for jobs. The Access Points model emerged from pilot programs conducted in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Labor to increase universal access to the One-Stop Career Center System, by building partnerships between faith-based and community organizations and Workforce Investment Areas (WIA). Manned by college staff or volunteers, MCCCD college Access Points will provide some one-stop services and referrals to others. Pilot campuses will include Glendale, GateWay, Paradise Valley, and Mesa Community Colleges. In April, MCCCD Education Representatives from the Center for Workforce Development’s (CWD) Public Workforce System team delivered two train-the-trainer workshops for Access Points volunteers and staff from across the Valley. CWD representatives Richard Gould and Jennifer Rue conducted these customized workshops to help prepare Access Points volunteers and staff to assist job seekers with resume development, online job search and networking skills.

U.S. Economic Overview

Nationwide, there are increasingly positive signs that the economic recovery has begun. The U.S. economy added 573,000 jobs in the first four months of 2010 (290,000 in April alone) including 101,000 jobs in manufacturing. Consumer spending is up, auto sales in the first quarter are up 16% over 2009, exports are increasing, payrolls are growing again, companies are reporter stronger-than-expected earnings, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained nearly 70% in the past year. U.S. has survived the worst downturn since the Great Depression because the public and private sectors reacted to the economic crisis with great speed and were willing to restructure and write off bad debt. In the first quarter of 2009 the economy was shrinking by an annual rate of 6.4%, by the fourth quarter of 2009 it was growing by a 5.6% annual rate.

There are plenty of reasons to caution the recovery, however. Unemployment remains at 25-year highs, and as a lagging indicator, it will remain high even as the economy recovers. Currently, the unemployment rate nationwide stands at 9.9% in April, down from 10.1% in October of 2009. Nearly 7.8 million jobs have been lost since employment peaked nationwide in December of 2007. The U.S. would need to add 160,000 jobs per month for four years to match its 2007 peak. Nearly 43% of persons unemployed nationwide have been out of work for more than six months, the highest percentage registered since World War II. Unemployment is also disproportionally high among the poor. The unemployment rate among households making $12,499 or less is 30.8%.

Other problems loom on the horizon which may derail the fragile recovery. Housing remains an ongoing issue. Normally, a rebound in the residential housing market drives economic growth in a recovery. Not this time. Although home prices are showing signs of improvement, this might be temporary, as other waves of foreclosures hit the market. Also, the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers has come to an end. Energy prices are also on the rise. Oil is currently hovering at around $80 a barrel, months before the traditional summer driving season begins. Ironically, the resumption of global economic growth will push oil prices higher, putting strains on the fragile recovery. Other looming issues include the budget deficit, which as a percent of GDP is the highest since the end of WWII, the end of federal stimulus spending, and shaky financial markets in Europe.

Arizona Outlook

Arizona was one of the first states to enter recession as the nation's economy began to turn, and was one of the last to begin recovery. All indications are that Arizona's recession came to an end with the beginning of the new year, about six months after the U.S. recovery began. Employment in Arizona is no longer falling, retails sales are up, personal income has stabilized, and the housing market is in the early stage of recovery.

Despite positive trends, it will take Arizona years to repair the economic damage that has been done. Statewide, the unemployment rate now stands at 9.6% in March, and will remian high for sometime. Population growth in 2009 (1.5%) was the slowest seen in at least 50 years, sales tax receipts have fallen by nearly one-third, in 2009 personal income, adjusted for inflation, declined for the first time ever. Arizona lost 343,000 (or 12.7%) of jobs between 2007 and 2009. Moving forward, if job growth in the state matches the average rate seen between 2000 and 2007 (2.7%), it would take nearly five years to recover all the jobs lost since 2007.

Employment in most of Arizona's industry sectors is beginning to stabilize. Sectors employing more people in March 2010 (compared to March 2009) include wholesale trade, general merchandise and department stores, educational services, most areas of healthcare, social services, and federal government. Sectors still struggling with negative employment growth include construction, mining, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, information, financial services, administrative services, accommodation, and state and local government. Also, employment in Arizona's high-tech sector remains flat, and has been for most of the last decade.

Top Industries for Employment Growth - Arizona
March 2009 to March 2010	Percent
Educational Services	10.2%
Federal Government	3.0%
Ambulatory Health Care Services	1.9%
Wholesale Trade	1.2%
Nursing and Residental Care	1.0%
Securities, Investments, and Related Services	0.8%
Department Stores	0.4%
Food Services and Drinking Places	0.3%
Source: Arizona Department of Commerce

Top Industries for Employment Declines - Arizona
March 2009 to March 2010	Percent
Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores	-22.2%
Construction - Heavy and Civil Engineering	-21.4%
Construction - Specialty Trade Contractors	-20.3%
Construction of Buildings	-18.1%
Fabricated Metal Products Manufacturing	-14.5%
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing	-8.6%
Accommodation	-8.5%
Mining	-8.4%
Source: Arizona Department of Commerce

Arizona's housing market is showing early signs of recovery. Residential building permits, which bottomed out in March 2009, are up 94% in March of 2010. Existing home sales are also up sharply, driven by federal tax credits and investors buying, repairing, and "flipping" homes. Although rates of foreclosures and short sales remain high, home values bottomed out in May 2009 and up 6.8%. The inventory of vacant homes is estimated at 120,000 statewide, and it will likely be 2014 before homebuilding in Arizona matches levels seen before the downturn.

Although the recession in Arizona has ended, it will likely be several years before the state's economy transitions from recovery to expansion mode. Moving forward, growth may be muted by continued difficulties in the real estate market, particularly commercial real estate, and continued layoffs in the public sector. The economic impact of SB1070 boycotts is also an unknown factor. Governments at the state and local level will struggle to balance budgets for at least the next three years or more, and funds to provide infrastructure and public school improvements will be limited, which will be an impediment to statewide economic development efforts.

Economic Indicators
					Change
		Current	Previous	Year Ago	Current/ Previous	Year/Year	Date
Gross Domestic Product
	US	5.6%	2.2%	-5.4%	3.4%	11.0%	Q4 2009
Employment (in thousands)
	US	130,161	129,871	131,542	0.2%	-1.0%	April, 2010
	Arizona	2,398.2	2,393.3	2,478.3	0.2%	-3.2%	March, 2010
	Greater Phoenix	1,649.4	1,645.3	1,707.2	0.2%	-3.4%	March, 2010
Unemployment Rate
	US	9.9%	9.7%	8.6%	0.2%	1.3%	April, 2010
	Arizona	9.6%	9.5%	8.7%	0.1%	0.9%	March, 2010
	Greater Phoenix	8.8%	9.1%	8.2%	-0.3%	0.6%	March, 2010
First Time Unemployment Claims
	US	480,000	463,000	609,000	3.7%	-21.2%	Week Ending April 10th
	Arizona	7,026	8,021	8,803	-12.4%	-20.2%	Week Ending April 24th
Continued Unemployment Claims
	US	4,663,000	4,686,000	6,225,000	-0.5%	-25.1%	Week Ending April 10th
	Arizona	84,137	82,217	105,509	2.3%	-20.3%	Week Ending April 24th
Consumer Price Index
	US	0.1	0.0	-0.1	0.1	0.2	March, 2010
Consumer Confidence
	US	57.9	52.3		0.8	10.7	April, 2010
Retail Sales ($ millions)
	US	363,194	357,466	337,476	1.6%	7.6%	March, 2010
Taxable Sales ($ millions)
	Arizona	3,481	3,189	3,461	9.2%	0.6%	March, 2010
Food Stamp Recipients
	US	39,693,919	39,430,990	32,556,129	0.6%	21.9%	February, 2010
	Arizona	1,006,005	1,005,810	772,534	0.002%	30.2%	February, 2010
Median Sale Price, Existing Single Family Homes
	US	$172,900	$178,200	$180,200	3.0%	-4.1%	Q4 2009
	Greater Phoenix	$143,900	$142,700	$155,900	0.8%	-7.7%	Q4 2009
Residential Building Permits
	US	103,200	96,000	106,400	7.5%	-3.0%	March, 2010
	Arizona	1,678	1,121	864	49.7%	92.2%	March, 2010
	Greater Phoenix	1,171	806	544	45.3%	115.3%	March, 2010
Commercial Vacancy Rates - Greater Phoenix
	Industrial	16.4%	16.1%	14.5%	0.3%	1.9%	Q1 2010
	Office	25.6%	24.5%	22.8%	1.1%	2.8%	Q1 2010
	Retail	11.9%	11.4%	9.7%	0.5%	2.2%	Q1 2010

 

Corporate Expansions					Corporate Layoffs
	Name	Jobs	Industry			Name	Jobs	Industry
	Suntech	150	Solar			Sam's Club	162	Retail
	Alpha Energies	57	Solar			Honeywell Aerospace	280	Aerospace
	Tower Automotive	182	Standard Manufacturing			Mondrian Scottsdale Hotel	140	Accommodation
	Safelite Auto Glass	715	Customer Service Center			Palm Harbor Homes	105	Construction
	First American Home Warranty	400	Customer Service Center			Wackenhut Incorporated Services	135	Security Services
	Yelp	200	Internet			American Greayhound Racing	147	Sports
	Stream Global Services	470	Customer Service Center			SelectBuild	77	Construction

About Us
The Center for Workforce Development works to ensure that the Greater Phoenix economy has a skilled labor pool which meets the existing and emerging workforce needs of the employer community. You can visit us at www.maricopa.edu/workforce