In the News: Second 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.

New Jersey-based third-party logistics firm Outerspace opened a warehouse in Avondale this March. This new West Coast hub is expected to employ 500. Old Dominion Freight Lines, which specializes in “less-than-a-truckload” transport, plans to build a terminal in Buckeye that will employ 300-350. Veterinary pharmacy Wedgewood plans to open a facility in Chandler by early 2024 that will employ 250. Arizona is getting its first Buc-ee’s. The gas station/convenience store planned for Goodyear will have 120 gas pumps, operate 24 hours every day of the year and employ around 200. Idaho-based discount grocery chain WinCo is opening a store in Goodyear by the latter part of this year and will have 175-200 workers. Software firm G.AI Solutions LLC plans to develop a “software solutions center” in Mesa that will employ 350. Discount grocer Aldi opened a second Phoenix store in February and based on other Phoenix area locations, it will employ about 20-25 people. Cold storage warehousing and logistics company Lineage is set to have a new facility in Phoenix that will be operational by July and create 75 jobs. Lightbridge Academy will be opening its first Arizona childcare center in the Phoenix area by 2026. This first center will employ about 30 educators though the ultimate goal is to have dozens of centers in the state, creating 360 jobs. A new Scottsdale hospital Banner Health Center Plus will be built by the end of 2025 and employ 220. 

Furniture maker Steelcase Inc. relocated its regional operations center to Glendale after shutting down operations in Southern California. The number of people being cut in California is 40, though it is not known how many of those jobs will move here. Owl Vans, which produces parts and accessories for adventure vans, relocated its operations from California to Mesa, bringing 35 employees. Fender Musical Instruments is moving from Scottsdale to Phoenix, allowing the company to add 100 employees within five years of the move. Business management consulting firm Cardone Ventures opened its corporate office in Scottsdale a few years ago and plans to hire 100 people here this year. Surgical blade manufacturer Planatome stated it was doubling its workforce in the Phoenix area over the next five years. 

The Phoenix area continues to attract semiconductor and related companies. Saras Micro Devices opened a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Chandler having relocated its headquarters from Atlanta, employing about 50 here. Pentagon Technologies Group, Inc. is building a cleaning facility in Mesa that will be operational by the fourth quarter and will hire about 300 over the next three years, adding to the semiconductor-related companies here. Swiss semiconductor firm SEALSQ Corp plans to establish a U.S. headquarters in the Phoenix area. The firm expects to have its semiconductor assembly and test center open by the end of 2025 and accommodate 300 employees.

COR Restaurant Services LLC reported that it laid off 140 in Avondale. Mesa Unified School District is cutting 385 teaching and support staff positions for the next school year citing declining enrollment for the cuts to staff. The report noted that a portion of non-teaching positions were vacant and that teaching staff were offered contracts for other roles in the district. American Airlines cut 335 customer service call center jobs in Phoenix this spring and almost as many in Dallas. US Foods is laying off 150 Phoenix employees that provide back-office support for the company. The cuts will happen on a rolling basis between August and January. Spectrum Home Healthcare LLC laid off 70 in Phoenix. Forever Nutraceuticals, LLC let 50 Phoenix employees go this spring. Kett Engineering Corp laid off 88 people in Surprise this month. Tempe-based tech company Edgio Inc. plans to lay off ten percent of its workforce in the second quarter of this year, amounting to about 80 positions. Pine Park Health primary health clinic in Tempe notified the state that 25 people were laid off this spring. Financial services and digital payment company Block, Inc. filed a WARN notice indicating six people in Maricopa County were to be let go.

Tucson optics firm Geost is increasing its employment this year by 100 employees. MHI RJ Aviation Group is expanding its operations at Tucson International Airport, adding 100 workers in 2024 and more than 250 over the next three years. The company is also offering six years of annual scholarships through Pima Community College to provide training in the aviation field. Micro-Hybrid Electronic GmbH, a German firm that makes microelectronics and high-precision infrared sensors, opened an office at the University of Arizona Tech Park with an initial staff of six and plans to increase that. UPS opened a new facility in Tucson this March. Hiring began in April, though no word on the number of employees other than the new location and existing site will have 200 delivery drivers between them. W. Silver Recycling opened a facility in Tucson near the Union Pacific rail line that should be operational by summer and employ 15-20. Discount grocer Aldi purchased land at Tucson Marketplace. A location here that would bring about 20-25 employees based on other locations in the state. Tucson Medical Center-Rincon opened this spring after being under construction since 2017. There were 145 staff hired as of the end of February. 

Catholic Community Services in Tucson indicated to the state that it was laying off 30 people this spring. Manufacturer Carclo Technical Plastics is shutting down its Tucson location, leaving 68 people out of work. 

Construction framing manufacturer FrameTec is building a second Arizona plant in Casa Grande that will provide 400 new jobs. Naturesweet announced it has started planting and growing cherry tomatoes in Graham County and will hire 250 over the next three years for their greenhouse facility. The Lake Havasu Community Health Center is expected to be open by this fall and employ about 100 at the surgical center. Mining company South32 chose Nogales for its remote operations center which will have 200 employees. The Hermosa zinc mine in the Patagonia Mountains is expected to start production in early 2027. Aerospace firm BlackStar Orbital Technologies is building an engineering and manufacturing facility in Sierra Vista that will begin operations in 2026 and employ about 50 to make a spaceplane-satellite hybrid vehicle. Agile Defense was awarded a tech contract with Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista previously held by Jacobs Technology Inc. The company planned to hire about 300 employees at the beginning of this year, many of whom had worked for Jacobs. 

Talas Harbor Behavioral Health Hospital in Bullhead City notified the state that it was letting go of 15 workers this spring. The Arizona State Veterans Home in Flagstaff laid off 16 workers in the early part of the year because of construction delays which made it difficult to maintain staffing levels. North Country HealthCare in Flagstaff reported to the state that it laid off 26 this spring. Window and door manufacturer Coeur d’Alene Window Company laid off five employees in Kingman. A WARN notice was filed in February stating that 239 employees of Jacobs Technology Inc. in Sierra Vista were being laid off. The Bose Corporation filed a WARN notice indicating 68 jobs lost in Yuma. Retailer 99 Cents Only Store announced at the beginning of April that it was permanently closing all 371 locations nationwide, including 39 in Arizona. A WARN notice filed on behalf of the company listed 1,400 layoffs, presumably for the entire state, which would come out to about 35 people per store.