Employment company optimistic about Arizona’s future
Jan 27, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 9:05 am
An employment company is optimistic about Arizona after the state’s unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 7.8 percent in December.
The Robert Half Company believes the news is even better if you have a college degree.
“Unemployment rates for those individuals are roughly half, if not even lower, than the general market,” said Brett Good, the senior Arizona district president for Robert Half.
But there could be more jobs opening up in the long term. Good’s firm estimates that a lot of people will be retiring over the next 20 years.
“You’ve got about 10,000 baby boomers that are reaching 65 years old every day for the next two decades nationwide,” Good said. “You’re going to have an exodus of employees that are leaving the market.”
Good said that today’s young people need the skills to replace them.
“Communications skills, software skills, technical skills, etc.,” said Good. “We just need to ensure that we’re doing a good job preparing our youth for the requirements of the future.”
A recent study by an organization called the Hay Group says that the number of retired people is expected to jump nearly 13 percent nationwide in 2014.