In the News: First Quarter 2026

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.

 Claim Assist Solutions, an insurance claim support services company leased office space in Chandler and hired an initial 40 employees in November with plans to hire up to 400 over the next two to three years. Crow Industries, a Scottsdale manufacturer of unmanned vehicles, expanded into a new facility in Deer Valley in December with plans to add 12 employees. Car dealership Yates Mitsubishi opened in Goodyear this January, creating 75 jobs. Denmark-based logistics and transportation company DSV broke ground on a regional headquarters in Mesa that will bring 160 new jobs. Hims & Hers Health Inc. signed a lease for a warehouse in Mesa that is expected to employ 247. Gifthealth, a digital pharmacy company, opened a processing center in Mesa this January. The facility will have robotic processing of up to 28,000 medications per day and employ 200. Compounding pharmacy, Strive Pharmacy, signed a lease for a facility in Mesa that increased its capacity for production and ability to add workers. The company had 241 employees in 2023 and expects to have as many as 1,000 by the end of 2026 and expand even more in 2026. Semiconductor supplier Fujifilm received approval to expand its current Mesa manufacturing facility, allowing the company to ramp up to 443 employees. AbbVie entered into an agreement to buy West Pharmaceutical Services, including its Tempe manufacturing facility and associated intellectual property containing Smart Dose on-body injector. The company expects the sale to go through by mid-year and add 200 new jobs to the site. RoviSys, an automation and information systems company, opened an office in Tempe that will create 100 engineering positions. Wealth management firm Kestra Holdings opened an office in Tempe in October and expects to add 250 employees there over 18-24 months. Modern Wealth Management announced in November that it was looking for office space in the Phoenix area for their headquarters. The company is ramping up employment in Arizona and expects to need space for 150 employees within the next 24-26 months. Electric Research and Manufacturing Cooperative, Inc. (ERMCO), a manufacturer of distribution transformers for utilities and other commercial and industrial markets, plans to open a facility in the community of Waddell, west of Phoenix, that will be operational by 2027 and employ 500. Helpany relocated its U.S. headquarters from the Bay Area to Phoenix and plans to hire for several positions. The company makes an AI device that helps senior living residents reduce falls.

Several retail stores announced locations in the Phoenix area this quarter. Discount grocery chain Aldi stated it was planning 10 Phoenix area stores in 2026 and will add a total of 40 new stores by 2030. The grocer typically employs 20-25 per store. Technology superstore Micro Center opened a location in Phoenix in early November, employing around 100. Vallarta Supermarkets announced it was opening a second Arizona location in south Phoenix this summer, employing about 200. Safeway opened a location in Queen Creek in early January. No jobs numbers were listed, but the grocer typically employs about 60 based on previous reports. Sprouts will open a location in Scottsdale the first half of 2026 with about 120 workers (based on previous notices). 

The governing board of Chandler Unified School District decided in January to cut 123 positions, representing about 2% of its workforce. Cuts were attributed to decreasing enrollment. Phoenix Union High School District will cut 160 positions for the 2026/2027 school year, including 10 assistant principal positions due to budget shortfalls and declining enrollment. Avelo Airlines closed its base at Mesa Gateway Airport at the end of January. A WARN notice filed by the company indicated 97 jobs lost. Vitamin and supplement retailer GNC Holdings LLC is permanently closing its Phoenix distribution center in early March, leaving 66 workers without jobs. Digital-only bank, Jenius Bank, sent notice it was closing operations and laying off employees, including 33 in Scottsdale. DoubleTree by Hilton in Tempe permanently closed on January 5^th, leaving 114 employees without jobs. NXP Semiconductor plans to close its ECHO GaN fab in Chandler by the first quarter of 2027. The number of employees to lose jobs was not reported, though the company had about 750 employees between the two Chandler fabs at one point (the second fab will remain open). Evernorth Care Group, a subsidiary of Cigna Corp., closed one clinic in Peoria and transitioned another in Tempe to HonorHealth after selling its assets to HonorHealth. The changes resulted in the loss of 143 jobs. Microchip announced in early 2025 it was closing the Tempe facility and laid off most staff by mid-year (as noted in our 2025:1 and 2025:2 reports); however, there were 63 employees left to maintain the facility. These jobs were eliminated at the end of December. Allied Tube and Conduit Corporation is laying off  205 people in its Phoenix facility starting in January, to be completed in April. 

Scottsdale-based Mountainside Fitness plans to open three locations in the Tucson area, all will be in fast-growing areas with no current fitness facilities nearby: Oro Valley, Marana, and Vail. The fitness centers will each employ 100-120. Costco intends to open a location near Vail next year, its fourth in the Tucson area. Other Costco locations employ about 200. Sprouts Farmers Market indicated it would open a location near the Houghton and Vail area of Tucson though no word on the timeline. The grocer typically employs 120 per store.

KPPC Advanced Chemicals Inc. broke ground in December on a new plant in Casa Grande that is expected to begin production in late 2027 and employ 200. Amazon opened a delivery center in Yuma last October that is expected to create 250 new jobs. 

Cream cheese maker Franklin Foods closed its Casa Grande plant at the beginning of February, laying off 83 workers in the process. Arizona Autism laid off 2,792 employees across Arizona as of the end of December, shifting caregiver and staff positions to contract work. The company, which provides pediatric therapy to autism patients, cited reductions in funding and caregiver hours for the conversion to contract positions. Nordstrom’s credit division laid off 36 remote employees in Arizona during February as it transitioned credit operations to TD Bank. There had been a series of layoffs in Arizona over the course of the year for that same reason.