Arizona's Prosperity is For All Arizonans
The Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization is an interconnected tool that dynamically communicates how our economy is evolving, and what that means for Arizona’s workers and learners.
Given the increasing complexity of our economy and the difficulty of obtaining and integrating reliable data, it can be challenging for policymakers, business and education leaders to plan for future growth.
The Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization delivers this information directly into the hands of decision-makers to better plan for the future.
Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization is currently available only for use with a Decision Theater Partner, if you would like to schedule a visit, please email us at decisioncenter@asu.edu
The Visualization in Action
An economic development manager from Pinal County wants to anticipate how many skilled workers her county will need to meet the growth of high-skilled manufacturing jobs by 2030.
Using the visualization, she discovers that, under current trends, skilled manufacturing jobs are expected to grow 31% by 2030, and new industries moving to Pinal County, such as electric vehicles and semiconductors, will increase that need exponentially.
The visualization helps her identify that Pinal County will specifically need many more industrial engineers, industrial machine mechanics, mechanical engineers and software developers. Pinal County currently does not produce these occupations in large enough numbers, so she can now start drafting plans for both how to recruit from nearby Maricopa and Pima counties, as well as expanding the training pipeline, including how to upskill existing labor pools that do reside in the county.
Statewide Takeaways
The strength of the Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization lies in users’ ability to simultaneously understand their local context in relation to the state’s changing economy. Here are a few key takeaways from using the visualization:
- Arizona is poised for growth and opportunity.
Arizona is growing rapidly across most industries, with many high-quality jobs being created and high-skill workers moving to Arizona from around the world. We predict thousands of new high-skill jobs created in the following fields by 2030:
- There are pathways to better jobs
For workers holding lower-paying and/or high-automation-risk jobs, there are pathways that build on these workers’ existing skills and lead to higher quality jobs. For example, the tool identifies that entry-level fabricators who complete more advanced training in related areas would be qualifed for jobs with a $20K higher annual wage.
The Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization helps identify these pathways.
- We can focus on equity.
Our economy’s rapid growth is currently inequitably distributed on the basis of region, race/ethnicity and gender. The Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization emphasizes an equity lens at all levels. For example:When compared to state population distributions, high-skill, high-growth, high-wage jobs are overrepresented in Maricopa County by +16%, and underrepresented in Cochise County by -50%.
- The future can belong to Arizona’s kids.
The majority of high-quality jobs that Arizona’s economy generates require advanced skills and education, but Arizona does not currently produce enough degree or certificate holders to fill these jobs. Arizona’s industries with the largest growth potential currently import workers from these states:
What’s Next?
The Arizona Education and Workforce Visualization enables local policy leaders to identify growth opportunities in high-wage jobs,including those with lower educational requirements, so they may target programs for existing workers at high risk of automation exposure. It helps rural community college presidents see what skills will be in greatest demand in their region, and which programs might offer their students the best opportunities for career advancement. It allows owners of growing businesses to see if a region has a sufficient supply of workers with the skills they need to expand, and then identify the institutions helping workers build those skills.
This visualization can help Arizona guide a changing economy to be more prosperous for all.
Ready to see for yourself?
Schedule a visit. Email us at: decisioncenter@asu.edu