By Arizona Commerce Authority
A new report comparing state economies ranks Arizona No. 1 for economic performance over the last decade. The latest Rich States, Poor States analysis from the American Legislative Exchange Council gave Arizona the highest marks in the country in its annual ranking based on the state’s Gross Domestic Product, population, and job growth. This year’s survey is the first time Arizona ranked No. 1 for economic performance.
In addition, Arizona ranked No. 3 for economic outlook, a measure that predicts future economic performance based on 15 policy variables including a state’s tax burden, public debt, and cost of doing business. Arizona’s economic outlook ranking improved ten spots from No. 13 over the last year.
In November, Arizona became just the third state to recover all jobs lost during the early months of the pandemic. The latest monthly employment report shows Arizona’s unemployment rate at 3.3%, and lower than the national rate of 3.6%. Over the last year, the state’s labor force has increased by more than 45,000 people.
In just the last five months, Arizona has successfully landed multiple major manufacturing projects representing diverse sectors such as semiconductors, renewable energy, home products and medical technology.
These recent expansions build on landmark wins in recent years from Intel, TSMC, KORE Power, ElectraMeccanica, Lucid, Nikola and others. (Source)