A jointly released by The Manufacturing Institute, the 501(c)3 nonprofit workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers, and Deloitte, a top global consulting firm, highlights manufacturers’ concern that there is a shortage of potential candidates applying for critical jobs in the industry. 

Analyzing data made available by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and estimates of private investments from , the report’s authors calculate that 3.8 million American manufacturing jobs will be created between now and 2033. Nearly two million of these jobs could remain vacant because of a skills gap.

“Pandemic-driven shifts have already created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and now we are seeing increased demand for digital skills that need to be met or risk further widening of the talent gap,” Manufacturing Institute President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee said .

These modern manufacturing jobs don’t necessarily resemble the iconic assembly lines of post-World War II America. Instead, many of these positions require more advanced skills, stretching beyond basic manual labor. 

“A combination of digital skills, soft skills, and high-level technical skills show the fastest compound annual growth rates in manufacturing between 2019 and 2023,” according to the report. In order for workers to acquire many of these skills, they need to undergo training or particular educational programs.

Despite this challenge, manufacturers believe that much of the talent gap can be filled through partnerships with and investments in technical colleges, industry associations, universities, and other similarly situated organizations. 

The report’s authors advise policymakers, business owners, and advocates to “look beyond the traditional talent pipeline… partnering with a variety of organizations to engage groups that may have unique barriers to entering or re-entering the workforce.”

“This report is another important reminder of how a state’s talent pipeline is essential to its manufacturing sector competitiveness,” Arizona Manufacturers Council Executive Director Grace Appelbe said. “We regularly hear from manufacturing job creators about their struggles to fill important jobs. We’ll continue to bring together manufacturers and policymakers to ensure we’re making the right moves at the K-12 and higher education levels so that students are ready for fulfilling careers in manufacturing.”

Arizona stands out nationally as a beneficiary of the manufacturing sector’s growth. A from real estate research firm Newmark released earlier this year found that Metro Phoenix is the country’s top market for manufacturing job growth. 

Joe Pitts is a native Arizonan currently working in the public policy space. He formerly served as program director at the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation.

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Hydrogen energy producers are sounding the alarm after the federal government released new guidance on the implementation of the 45V tax credit. The credit, created in 2022 following the passage of the (IRA), incentivizes the production of hydrogen by reducing the tax burden on eligible producers. 

The credit was crafted and signed into law with the express intent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting American industry through the scaling up of domestic hydrogen production. Producers warn, however, that its implementation could very well be derailed by counterproductive rulemaking. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury and the IRS released draft guidance on how the credit will be administered and which producers will be eligible to utilize it. The guidance stretches beyond the letter of the law, excluding large components of the hydrogen production community from benefiting from 45V. By establishing “three pillars” — deliverability, temporal matching, and incrementality requirements — the new rules would preclude certain producers from receiving the credit.

“The 45V credit is technology neutral and accessible to project sponsors regardless of their particular hydrogen production pathway as long as they meet certain carbon emissivity requirements,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., ranking member of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, , “However, the requirements of the IRS guidance preclude certain means of hydrogen production from qualifying for the credit.”

One major source of hydrogen precluded from receiving the credit under these new rules is “blue” hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas and paired with carbon capture technology. Hydrogen hubs, established by a $7 billion investment from the , rely on this production pathway.

The dispute is part of a broader trend. Since taking office, the Biden administration has prioritized a transition to clean energy production, with a focus on domestic production. Some of its policies — such as the IRA and the — have been seemingly conducive to that end. But when it comes down to implementation, the administration has instituted new regulatory barriers, often erecting and supporting policies which undermine its economic development goals.

Excessive labor regulations have contributed to in the construction of chip manufacturing facilities, onerous federal permitting laws have new mining operations, and now, new guidance threatens to dampen the impact of 45V.

Here, argue hydrogen production proponents, Biden has a chance to actualize his commitment to producing more clean domestic energy. 

Time will tell if his administration chooses to reverse course and amend its guidance.

Joe Pitts is a native Arizonan currently working in the public policy space. He formerly served as program director at the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation.

Photo Matti Blume

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Since 1996, Arizona has hosted four Super Bowls, two World Series, 27 Phoenix Open golf tournaments, and a litany of other enormous sports events. Beyond these mega-events, however, Arizona hosts a multitude of smaller-scale but nonetheless impactful events which not only contribute to the state’s burgeoning cultural capital, but to the state’s economic output.

A new report co-produced by the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� Foundation and Rounds Consulting Group explores the economic impact of Arizona’s sports industry, and the potential for targeted investments and enhanced coordination between strategic partners to expand the industry’s positive effects on the state economy.

The report’s release coincides with Tuesday’s at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix. Co-produced by the Arizona Commerce Authority, the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce & Industry, Horizon Strategies, and the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, the inaugural summit is Arizona’s first sport-specific business, technology, and innovation event to bring together executives, academics, entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, athletes, and policy leaders to examine emerging tech trends in sport, sports performance, and adjacent industries, as well as to assess how the business of sports can help grow the Arizona economy.

Surveying past sporting events, the report calculates that the Cactus League, Phoenix Open, and past Super Bowls have generated between $180 million and $1.3 billion in economic impact per event. Medium-scale events, like the NCAA Championship and the MLB All-Star game, generated between $67 and $324.5 billion in economic impact each. “While larger scale sports events like the Super Bowl provide substantial economic benefits to the state, the sum of the mid-tier and smaller annual sports events will also display very large economic impacts,” the report reads.

As an example of the massive benefit these sporting events can have on the state economy, the report compares the Cactus League and the Phoenix Open to an average high-wage manufacturing firm, which generates an annual economic impact of $50 million. “This means that spring training baseball in Arizona provides the economic equivalent of 14 such manufacturing businesses operating throughout the entire year, every year. The Waste Management Phoenix Open would equal 9 such businesses.”

Beyond these initial estimates, the report’s authors recommend several areas for further research and analysis: locating thorough data that can be used to calculate the economic impact of specific sports events, calculating how important mega-events are to the state economy, understanding the role of smaller sports events in total economic output, and measuring the economic impact of minor and mid-level events, such as high school soccer tournaments.

Diving deeper into how such events generate such an outsized impact on the state’s economy, the report outlines certain industries that stand to benefit from a thriving sports industry. Tourism and local spending are obvious winners, with local businesses benefiting from tens of thousands of tourists coming to town. Beyond this, however, the report’s authors highlight how related industries such as sports medicine, health technology, sports gambling, and charity and philanthropy stand to benefit.

The report insists that the state should consider return on investment (ROI) when investing taxpayer dollars on sports industry proposals. 

“In instances where public/private partnerships are favored,” ROI calculations will be demanded by private investors, the report reads. The report’s authors argue that state actors — who are spending money earned through taxation, not through voluntary economic transactions — should hold themselves to the same standard.

In addition to calculating ROI, advocates for specific proposals must be able to articulate these numbers and community members’ support for such proposals in public venues if they intend to succeed in bringing their efforts over the finish line, the report reads.

As Arizona continues to lead the nation as a hub for sports events and sports tourism, state leaders in both the private and public sectors are looking to capitalize on this competitive advantage to grow the economic pie. This report might just be the launching point for future strategies to grow the state’s sports industry and, in turn, fuel investments from job creators and put more money into taxpayers’ pockets.

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Northern Arizona University has announced it will launch the NAU College of Medicine. With this announcement, all three of the state’s public universities will have medical schools.

“With the creation of NAU Health, we recommit ourselves to elevating our existing, exceptional health education programs with the goal of doubling the number of degrees awarded by NAU in the much-needed fields of nursing, health professions, and behavioral health and increasing provider availability in every nook and corner of the state,”  NAU president José Luis Cruz Rivera .

The foundation of the new medical school is part of the Arizona Board of Regents’ , a multifaceted approach to improving state health outcomes. The initiative includes three central goals: launch ASU and NAU’s new medical schools, double the number of graduates from UArizona’s College of Medicine, and increase the number of nursing and other health care graduates.

In partnership with the Governor’s Office, the board has also allocated $56 million to launch these initiatives. The new medical school and the financial investments “will close the historical healthcare gap so many Arizonans are experiencing,” Gov. Hobbs last month on X, formerly known as Twitter,

ABOR also recently voted to request $153 million from the Legislature in fiscal year 2025 for the initiative, as well.

“There is not a moment to waste as Arizona must train and deploy the health care professionals our fast-growing population requires,” Fred DuVal, ABOR chairman.

Arizona struggles to compete nationally on healthcare outcomes and the state’s domestic medical workforce. According to the AZ Healthy Tomorrow initiative, Arizona by 2030 requires:

• 14,000+ new registered nurses,
• 3,600+ new physicians,
• 2,400+ new behavioral health workers,
• 1,100+ new dental hygienists,
• 900+ new physical therapists,
• and 800+ occupational therapists

Furthermore, “nearly 3 million Arizona residents live where there’s limited access to primary care doctors,” according to Dr. G. Richard Olds, president of St. George’s University medical school and a national expert on the physician workforce. This limited access to doctors hits rural areas particularly hard.

Danny Seiden, the president and CEO of the Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce & Industry, says a robust healthcare workforce is essential to the state’s economic growth.

“Having access to world-class health care providers helps attract job creators to Arizona,” Seiden said. “To know that each of the state’s public universities will have a medical school will not only help ensure Arizona can meet its health care needs, but it will be a major boost to our economic development prospects.”

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Researchers at Arizona’s public universities are working with the state mine inspector and the mining community to discover novel ways to use leftover waste rock from copper mining, the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) recently .

A $3.6 million grant awarded by ABOR is allowing researchers to pursue the project. The grant, known as the Regents’ Research Grant, pairs public university researchers with state agencies and community organizations to address long-term challenges facing the state of Arizona.

The research team includes 13 faculty and staff from Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University. Isabel Barton, an assistant professor of mining and geological engineering at UArizona, is the principal investigator. Misael Cabrera, the former director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, will serve as the project liaison for the research plan.

Copper tailings, the technical name for the waste rock the researchers are studying, is pulverized into fine sand through the mining process. These tailings potentially contain strategic minerals such as zinc, iron, cadmium, and lead, which are in high demand as the United States seeks to reshore its supply chain and mine more of these ores domestically for use in things like electric vehicle battery manufacturing. Because tailings are already pulverized, researchers are hopeful that the process of refining these minerals would be far less expensive and onerous than it would be if they were mined traditionally.

“[R]eprocessing of mine tailings may significantly reduce costs, as the ore has already been mined, crushed and partially processed,” according to the for the project.

Additionally, tailings can contribute to soil pollution and other negative environmental outcomes. Extracting tailings from mines old and new could not only bolster America and Arizona’s mining industry but also improve environmental conditions.

Researchers believe that this project is of increasing importance with copper demand forecast to increase by 275-350% by 2050. Policymakers in the U.S. have also recently focused more on the domestic extraction and refinement of minerals and other natural resources to make American supply chains more stable and less dependent upon changes in international affairs. “The extraordinary volumes of leftover rock from copper mining make reprocessing copper tailings a world-class challenge and opportunity for Arizona,” Barton said. “This large-scale interdisciplinary project represents a substantial first step toward making use of a massive, but undeveloped, potential resource.

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A new from Common Sense Institute Arizona reveals that Arizona’s rate of inflation has dropped to the national average after 29 consecutive months of running above it. Year-over-year price inflation for the last 12 months in metro Phoenix is now at 3.7%, following a monthly inflation rate of .04% for the metro area in September.

Since 2020, Arizona has with high inflation rates; the consumer price index (CPI) for the Phoenix Metro was more than 12% higher in October 2022 than it was in October 2021. 

The average Arizona household has to pay over $23,000 more per year compared to 2020 for the same goods and services, including food and beverage, housing, and transportation. That’s why Arizona now dropping down to the national average of 3.7% has analysts and business leaders hopeful that the worst is behind them.

“Arizona remains an affordable place to live and work when compared to our national competitors, but inflation is still too high,” CSI board member and Arizona ���ϳԹ��� of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Danny Seiden said. “Let’s hope this latest data is a sign that big spikes in costs are a thing of the past.”

Another bright spot in the data is that the cost of shelter actually decreased in September for the first time since the onset of accelerated inflation. For reference, the average monthly rent for a two bedroom apartment or home has increased by over $600 since August 2020, a 43.6% increase.

“Policymakers and the business community should continue to keep an eye on housing costs,” Seiden said. “We want to be able to continue to recruit job creators to Arizona and ensure that their employees will be able to find an affordable place to call home. If inflation is best described as too many dollars chasing too few goods, then we should work to increase the housing supply. A ‘Yes in my backyard’ posture by city leaders could put some much needed downward pressure on housing costs.”

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A new from the Common Sense Institute of Arizona (CSI) details the positive economic benefits of HB 2569, a 2019 bill and law that made Arizona the first state in the nation to adopt universal occupational licensing recognition. Since its passage, the state has more than 8,000 licenses that would not have been furnished without the legal enshrinement of reciprocity.

Glenn Farley, the author of the report and the director of policy and research for CSI Arizona, concluded that over the last 3.5 years, universal licensing recognition has added 13,100 jobs to the state economy and $1.2 billion in economic growth. Additionally, as Arizona continues to experience unprecedented rates of in-migration, Farley says that the adoption of universal licensing has positively contributed to the expansion of the state’s population. Since 2019, annual domestic in-migration has increased from 70,000 people per year to 100,000 people per year.

“If the program continues attracting workers at this rate over the next decade it will generate more than $3 billion in new annual economic activity for Arizona,” Farley said. Additionally, it could add over 30,000 jobs. While these projections assume the same rate of usage experienced during the last 3.5 years stretching over the next 7.5, Farley argues that this is a reasonable expectation. In fact, “the program continues to attract new workers at roughly the same rates today as during its inaugural year.” 

When breaking down which sectors have benefited most from this reform, construction, real estate, and healthcare come out on top. These three industries lead the pack when looking at the more than 8,000 new licenses issued since the reform’s implementation.

The report also addresses a common critique of universal occupational licensing recognition: that it could negatively affect health and safety. “CSI reviewed and could not find evidence of any decrease in regulated service quality,” said Farley, “as measured by the volume of professional complaints received since enactment of the universal recognition law.” 

While he acknowledges that these findings are not conclusive because of a lack of available and standardized data, he says that their analysis of professional complaints are indicative.

Reformers across the nation on both sides of the aisle have rushed to enact universal reciprocity following Arizona’s first in the nation law. Colorado, Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, and 15 other states enacted similar laws in the years following HB 2569’s enactment. 

Momentum has built for such reforms, as economists have increasingly argued that strict professional licensure regimes hamper economic growth. Only 5% of the American workforce had or was required to have an occupation license in the 1950s, versus over 20% today.

“Occupational licensing requires time, effort, and money to obtain – which reduce[s] the willingness of new workers to enter a licensed occupation,” Farley says. “These burdens can be particularly acute if a worker crosses jurisdictional lines.” 

In 2022, CSI AZ calculated that occupation licensing has cost Arizona 188,000 jobs and $16.2 billion in GDP.

Image via . Creative Commons license .

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Arizona State University last week announced the creation of the , an 80,000-square-foot facility to be built on 22 acres of land near Papago Park in Tempe. The library is named after the late Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee, John S. McCain III.

The library is primarily through the American Rescue Act’s Capital Projects Fund, though the ASU Foundation has pledged to launch a fundraising campaign “to support the development and enhancement of the site.” 

Boasting a partnership with both ASU and the McCain Institute, the library will provide “education, work, and health monitoring programs to underserved communities.” At the core of this mission will be a focus on bridging the digital divide for poor and marginalized communities.

“John McCain is an important symbol of American democracy and he holds a special place of respect and appreciation in Arizona,” ASU President Michael Crow said. “ASU intends to work with others in the community to take this unique property and create something that honors his extraordinary life and legacy and that serves the principles he devoted his life and career to and carries it forward for future generations to learn from.”

President Joe Biden Tempe last week to headline the dedication ceremony for the library, celebrating McCain’s legacy and highlighting his friendship with the late senator. Biden used the opportunity to hit on core themes of his reelection campaign, such as the maintenance of American democracy and the defense of American institutions against political extremism. 

“I’ve come to honor the McCain Institute Library because they are a home of a proud Republican who put his country first,” he said. “Our commitment should be no less because democracy should unite all Americans regardless of political affiliation.”

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), former Gov. Doug Ducey (R), Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (D), and Ambassador Cindy McCain, the widow of the senator, were in attendance for the ceremony. 

What: McCain National Library at Arizona State University

Where: The library will sit on a 22.5-acre site on the north side of Tempe Town Lake in Papago Park. The university’s community services building is currently on the site. 
More: The library is expected to be 80,000-square-feet and house Sen. McCain’s papers and other materials from his time of service in Arizona, Washington, D.C., and around the world. ASU already houses an archive of the senator’s work. The library will also serve as the Arizona location for the McCain Institute.

Photo above by Gage Skidmore

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A new from the American Gas Association (AGA) explores how the American hospitality sector relies on natural gas, consuming 300 billion cubic feet in natural gas annually. That means that the U.S. hospitality sector consumes more natural gas each year than the entire state of Maryland, which has a population of 6.16 million people. 

One of the primary uses of natural gas within the sector includes restaurants’ use of gas appliances. “Natural gas is not just a utility but an irreplaceable component in many cooking styles,” the report’s authors explain. As cities and states like have moved to restrict the use of natural gas, many restaurants have been hit with economic hardship. 

Such regulations can discourage business and job growth.  

The report’s authors cite the example of Ron Salisbury, a California restaurant owner who chose to add a new location in Salt Lake City rather than the business’ hometown in California because of that state’s excessive natural gas regulations. “The future in California doesn’t look good, and Utah, by contrast, looks extremely bright,” he. 

Utah a law blocking cities and localities from implementing natural gas bans in 2021. Arizona a similar law in 2020. A bipartisan coalition of state legislators worked with then-Gov. Doug Ducey to the nation’s first prohibition of natural gas bans. The bill prevented cities and municipalities from restricting the use of natural gas for new buildings.  

In addition to direct natural gas consumption by food services and drinking places; arts, entertainment, and recreation; and accommodation, the industry relies on indirect consumption.  

Top upstream consumers include sectors such as petrochemical manufacturing, maintenance and repair construction, as well as several agribusiness segments. Limiting natural gas usage throughout the supply stream would have upward price effects on the hospitality industry, raising prices across the board. 

“If hotels, restaurants, or amusement parks were restricted from using natural gas, families could see a $500 annual increase in costs,” says Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the AGA. “The U.S. hospitality sector has world-class appeal, attracting guests from all over the world and providing unmatched cuisines and entertainment. Natural gas’ role in enabling those unique experiences may be underappreciated, but it is indispensable.” 

Kim Grace Sabow, the president and CEO of the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association, agrees. 

“So much that goes into making Arizona’s world-class properties comfortable and welcoming is out of guests’ view, including the contribution of natural gas,” Grace Sabow said. “Our chefs depend on gas stoves to cook five-star meals, ensure our guests have hot showers and, when the weather turns chilly, gas fireplaces and outdoor fire amenities. Natural gas is essential to a thriving Arizona tourism industry.” 

The report is part of a larger project titled the Advancing America Series in which the AGA highlights the critical role natural gas plays in important industries like hospitality and agriculture.  

As progressive policymakers move to, the AGA sees this sort of public information campaign as a useful means of educating the public on what further regulations — let alone bans — on natural gas would mean for consumers. 

“All stakeholders, including, state and federal policymakers, consumer protection advocates, and labor advocates, should pay close attention to these findings and the significant impact that restrictions on natural gas could have for so many iconic businesses and destinations,” Harbert said.

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With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of millions of American families saw their children’s learning disrupted. Some schools shut down for prolonged periods of time, others adopted unique hybrid models, while others transitioned to a fully digital education experience. No matter these innovations, parents, educators, and researchers began to make out a troubling trend: student learning was taking a hit. 

This intuition is now being vindicated by the latest data from NAEP, which is often referred to as the nation’s report card and is “the only standardized, long-term measure of student academic learning for the nation.” 

The 2022 NAEP scores, the results of the first standardized assessments taken by students after the pandemic, show that two decades of progress in reading and math scores were wiped out.

New from the Common Sense Institute of Arizona, a think tank committed to growth and market economics, dove into how learning loss will impact the state of Arizona in-particular. 

Learning loss will not only deprive students of knowledge and learning, but contribute negatively to the state’s growth, and human flourishing, they say. 

Their predictions are startling: CSI Arizona estimates that learning loss will cost Arizona up to $5.8 billion in economic output over the next decade. Additionally, the report’s authors project that the state will have 18,000 fewer high school graduates, and 32,000 fewer college graduates by 2032.

The report’s authors argue that the learning loss suffered during the pandemic will have ripple effects throughout the state, and in this “lost generation” of students’ lives.

Education positively affects a range of variables in a person’s life, including but not limited to employment, income level, and likelihood of being arrested or incarcerated. 

• The unemployment rate for Americans with a bachelor’s degree is 2.2%, in contrast to an unemployment rate of 3.9% for those with only a high school diploma. 
• Americans with a bachelor’s degree maintain an average household income of $105,000 compared to $46,800 for those who only graduated high school. 
• In general, probability of criminality is significantly higher for men without a High School Diploma than for any other social demographics.

The report shows that Arizona could see at least 1,500 more violent crimes by 2032 as a result of learning loss. “CSI estimates the increase in criminality due to pandemic-era learning loss would cost Arizonans between $38.1 and $175.1 million annually, or a cumulative $456 million to $2.1 billion over the next 12 years.”

Katie Ratlief, the executive director of the institute, stressed the seriousness of the report’s findings, but also maintained hope. 

“But, here’s the good news: our analysis assumes this learning loss is permanent. And it doesn’t have to be,” she said. “The federal government provided American schools with more than $277 billion in one-time emergency support to help alleviate some of these recent losses, and over $4.5 billion of that has gone to Arizona’s public schools.”

Half that relief money remains unspent, says Ratlief. “If schools, parents, and policymakers are successful in addressing and reversing these trends, the impacts estimated here could be mitigated.” 

How might decisionmakers distribute these funds and make reforms in such a way that these negative effects are mitigated? 

Learning loss fomented by the pandemic may be precisely the turning point which prompts Arizona parents, educators, and lawmakers to work together to solve not only pandemic-related learning loss, but longer-standing issues facing the state’s education system.

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