Mayor Greg Stanton: Phoenix’s economy coming back in a big way

PHOENIX — Arizona lost about 300,000 jobs during the recession. Most of which occurred in the construction field.

But speaking at an AFL-CIO breakfast Monday, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said the city is on the way back in a big way.

“In terms of job creation, Phoenix is the fastest growing recovery economy in the nation,” Stanton said. “But let’s be honest, that was off a very low base. We were hammered during the recession and there’s a lot of people suffering.”

Because too many people still remain unemployed or underemployed, Stanton noted that there’s no cause for celebration until everyone benefits in this recovering economy.

The unions also voiced several concerns at the Labor Day breakfast, among them was the huge drop in household income from $64,000 in 2000 to $55,000 dollars in 2013 and the fact that the average CEO earned 354 times the average wage of a U.S. worker last year.