By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
The city of Goodyear continues to see growth and economic development with new data centers led by Microsoft, manufacturing, including Nike, and Amazon.com and other logistics centers.
Now, the West Valley city want to start competing for more office jobs and corporate headquarters.
“We’re ready to pivot to the corporate headquarters and offices,” said Goodyear City Manager Julie Arendall during a virtual forum held by Valley Partnership on Monday.
Goodyear touts 1.56 million workers within a 30-minute drive and wants employers to know that 62.4 percent of those are professional workers.
Goodyear also has a median household income of $80,332 per year. Arendall said that compares favorably to the rest of the Phoenix region.
COVID-19 is poised to create some changes in workplaces, work schedules and where companies land. Some commercial real estate brokers and architects expect to see some companies to favor more suburban locations than denser downtown areas with office towers.
That could send jobs and employers out of the likes of Seattle, Chicago, and New York.
Paul Hughes, executive vice president at the Arizona Commerce Authority, is optimistic of the state’s economic position as jobs and the marketplace navigate COVID-19 and all its impacts.
He said there 78 companies looking at expanding existing Phoenix operations and another 148 potential new locates to the region.
Those could bring as many as 50,500 jobs.
Like the rest of the U.S. economy, Arizona and metro Phoenix shed scores of jobs (especially in tourism, retail, and restaurants) because of COVID-19.
Some of those jobs have been brought back with the reopening of Arizona’s economy.
