Jobs for Arizonans

In August 2007, Arizona had 2.6 million jobs. Today that number has dwindled to 2.4 million: That’s a loss of 280,0000 jobs. When Arizona citizens are out of work, they may have to rely on state subsidies, deepening our deficit via increased State spending on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment program (AHCCCS), unemployment benefits, welfare payments, food stamps and more. Significant losses since 2007 in State sales and personal/ corporate income tax revenues (see Arizona’s Budget) are also tied to the decrease in available jobs.

It’s now imperative that revenues (those realized by revisions to State spending patterns) be used to generate new jobs for industries and projects that will - in turn - yield additional revenues over time. New job creation for Arizonans must be targeted in such areas as infrastructure improvements, border control, education, public safety and renewable energy, to name a few. This will provide our taxpayers a return on the investment of these dollars, in addition to putting Arizonans back to work.

An important component of new job creation is stimulus for small businesses, helping them to retain employees and add more jobs. They need some relief from certain government mandates, as well as tax incentives designed to help small businesses grow, thereby enabling them to hire more employees and further contribute to State revenues. In addition, so many small business owners would like to provide health care benefits for their employees. Unfortunately, far too many have had to drop or forego such employee benefits due to out-of-control health insurance costs. Small businesses need a broader range of options from insurers, allowing them to offer reasonable, affordable employee health care coverage.

(Statistics above from Governor’s Executive Budget Status Report, 12/09.)