In the News: First Quarter 2024

This post contains items we have found in Arizona news websites and economic development releases where there are job figures recorded. It also includes items from the Arizona Job Connection Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act (WARN) search. While this list is not a complete description of activity during the last quarter, it does provide insight into current developments that affect Arizona’s employment base. Detailed information on individual announcements is available on the Reports and Presentations page (scroll to the bottom of the page). Graphs summarizing overall trends for Arizona, Phoenix, and Tucson are below.

Arcadia Cold Storage and Logistics opened a facility in El Mirage last October, creating 80 jobs. El Mirage will have a hospital soon. Instinctive Healthcare Solutions will open the El Mirage ER & Medical Center by mid-year which will employ between 40-60. Outdoor retailer REI announced it was opening a store in Glendale this summer with a staff of about 50. Equipment and parts distributor Parts Town Unlimited is opening a distribution center in Glendale that is expected to be open by late 2024 and employ 100. PGW Auto Glass opened a distribution center in Glendale at the end of 2023 with plans to employ 22. Meyer Berger Technology AG is building a solar module manufacturing plant in Goodyear that is expected to be operational by mid-year and employ 630. Optum Rx opened a new facility in Mesa that will employ 300 for pharmacy home delivery in the Southwest. Modular home manufacturer Connect Homes is building a factory in Mesa that will create 90 jobs. Amkor Technology Inc. is planning a new semiconductor advanced packaging and testing facility in Peoria that will employ 2,000. 

Instinctive Healthcare Solutions is planning a micro-hospital in Phoenix that will include an ER and specialized cardiac care. There was no word on employment but similar hospitals built by the same company (like the one opening in El Mirage) had employee counts between 40-75. Two gas and energy companies have partnered to develop the Gila Hydrogen Facility which will create 30 high skilled positions as well as 60 truck driver positions. Fox Factory Inc. leased a facility in north Phoenix to manufacture aftermarket parts for utility vehicles and all-terrain vehicles and plans to hire 100. 

Social media giant TikTok opened an office in Scottsdale though reports indicated only four positions here. Online auto sales and financing firm TriColor Auto Group is opening a facility in Surprise this summer that will initially employ 200 and ramp up to 500 when fully operational. Sam’s Club is set to open a location in Tempe in early 2025 and the retailer typically employs 150-175 per store. 

Dutch Bros. Inc. is expanding its corporate offices to the Phoenix area with plans to move 40% of its total support staff to the Valley by January 2025. The company will still retain an office in Grants Pass, OR where it originally was based. Longtime Phoenix area semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASM International plans to build a new headquarters and R&D facility in Scottsdale that will be complete by 2026 and add 500 new jobs over the next six years. Scottsdale-based dental software company Peerlogic plans to add 33 employees over the next year thanks to and injection of venture capital funds. 

Canadian snack food manufacturer Leclerc Foods permanently closed its Phoenix facility in October, displacing 93 employees. Erus Energy laid off 56 employees in Phoenix last fall as it ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy. Logistics and delivery company SPS Ventures, Inc. announced it will cease operations at its Phoenix facility in February, laying off its 93 employees. ComTrans, Inc., which transports adults and children to and from appointments with counselors, medical offices, schools and the like, filed a WARN notice in December listing 128 workers cut in Phoenix. Airport concessions company HMSHost laid off 68 in Phoenix according to WARN notices. California-based autonomous vehicle company Cruise LLC decided to permanently downsize its operations, resulting in the loss of 110 jobs between Phoenix and Scottsdale. IT consulting firm Cognizant Technology Solutions filed a WARN notice stating it was laying off 88 Scottdale employees. Scottsdale bar BS West closed at the end of the year after 35 years in business, leaving 12 without jobs. Cygnus Home Service, LLC, parent corporation of what used to be Schwan’s Home Delivery (now called Yelloh), cut 90 delivery centers nationwide in December. The company filed WARN notice for 68 people laid off in Maricopa County. 

Roadhouse Cinemas in Tucson is opening a family entertainment venue this fall that is yet to be branded but will be next to the current movie theater and employ 40-50. Sol Flower opened four dispensaries in Tucson in the last quarter of 2023, creating about 100 jobs. Total Quality Logistics added an office in Tucson during November with 16 initial employees and is hiring more. The company indicated the reason it expanded to Tucson was the great talent pool and a major transportation hub here. Florida-based Epic Flight Academy opened a branch of its flight school in Tucson last October. There are 180 employees among all its campuses, which Tucson makes the fourth. Tractor Supply Company opened a store in Vail in December, the fifth Tucson area store for the farm and ranch supply retailer. Other stores in the area employ about 15 people. 

TuSimple revealed in December that the company was winding down U.S. operations and laying off all remaining U.S. employees. The same week, a WARN notice was filed in Arizona for 42 Tucson employees.  The Arizona Dept. of Corrections decided to end the contract for private prison contractor Management & Training Corp resulting in the loss of 86 jobs in Marana at the end of 2023. Video game developer Gearbox/Embracer Group announced a company-wide layoff within the Lost Boys Interactive studio in January with 125 jobs lost in Tucson. 

Exceptional Health is building a community hospital in Eloy that will be open by late this year and employ about 100. Exceptional Community Hospital-Bullhead City opened in November with about 100 employees, one of several that Texas-based Exceptional Healthcare has opened (or will open) around the state, employing between 60-100 each. That includes a hospital in Prescott that will open in mid-2024 and one in Yuma that opened in 2022.

The owners of the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas laid off 20 of the 32 hotel employees and temporarily shut down the bar and restaurant at the end of December citing ongoing renovations for the decrease in staffing. Bealls Inc. provided the state with notice that the retailer let go of 14 in Flagstaff. A non-WARN notice was filed with the state indicating DISH Network LLC laid off 50 in the Mohave/La Paz region. An internet search for the company showed that the Kingman office permanently closed. Rio Aggregate Services, Inc laid off 19 at the Mohave Valley family-owned construction materials company. Longtime family-owned Yuma restaurant La Fonda Mexican Food and Tortilla Factory closed at the beginning of October, leaving 20 employees without jobs. Yuma restaurant Daybreakers 2 reported to the state that it laid off 13 workers at the beginning of the year. WARN notices disclosed 53 people were laid off from Michaels Foods in Yuma. Based on previous reports, the company produces hard-boiled eggs at the Yuma facility.