Arizona might be one of the nation's fastest-growing states, measured by population and economic output, but much of the momentum for adding new jobs has shifted away from the largest employers.
For the second straight year, this installment of The Republic 100, our annual look at the biggest nongovernmental employers, shows little change in the overall workforce at these companies.
Granted, these large corporations and nonprofit entities still wield considerable clout, accounting for roughly one in six statewide jobs with pay scales and benefit packages that often are near the top.
But the top 100 entities collectively reported 608,900 jobs — virtually identical to the 608,000 reported this time last year and the 607,900 for 2022. A decade ago, the cumulative job total for the top 100 was around 500,000.
The total number of employed Arizonans now is near 3.26 million, up about 1.9% over the past year, according to the state Office of Economic Opportunity.
The top three entities on our annual list remained the same, with Banner Health leading the way, followed by Walmart and then Amazon.com.
All three companies boosted their Arizona staffs over the past year, as did various others including State Farm, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Boeing, Charles Schwab, Hello Fresh, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., UNS Energy Corp., and Hospice of the Valley.
There were a few newcomers to our top-100 list, including Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, Carvana, U.S. Bank, Salad and Go, and Progressive. All numbers were self-reported by companies.
Opportunities for new careers
Despite the lack of a big uptick in hiring, the job market has been fluid enough to offer flexibility for workers seeking to change roles and industries.
Rachel Kuhner, 36, spent 15 years in the restaurant business, most recently as a manager. Now she’s market-operations manager for online used-car giant Carvana in Tolleson, overseeing auto-detailing maintenance, minor repairs and inspections, lot attendants, and the drivers who deliver cars to customers.
She also opened and oversees the company’s “vending machine” in Glendale, referring to the high-profile distribution tower where customers may pick up their autos.
“I’m interacting with 75 to 100 customers a week at the vending machine,” Kuhner said.
She said the transition from restaurants to car deliveries isn’t as strange as it sounds, given the focus on good customer experiences in both situations.
The Tolleson facility delivers 5,500 to 6,500 vehicles annually to customers in the west Valley and most of western Arizona. The process also involves 150 used-vehicle inspection items prior to delivery covering tires, windshields, fluids, the battery, exterior paint, and other aspects. Carvana also takes extensive photos of the cars and trucks it sells, before delivery.
“We pull cars from inventory, clean and detail them, and interact with customers or deliver the cars to the vending machines,” she said. “We make the purchase exciting for people.”
Maintaining Arizona's power grid
As for excitement, it's hard to top jobs like that held by Robby Joersz. He's a lineman at Salt River Project, the Tempe-based water and power utility. His duties include maintaining the company's electricity infrastructure such as transmission equipment.
Joersz, 26, was hired in May at SRP but has been employed in the trade since age 19, in previous positions around the country. He enjoys working outside and with his hands.
The job moves him around the state, where at times he's working 120 feet or more in the air or laboring at or below ground level. He might be assigned to downtown Phoenix or a wilderness location near Apache or Roosevelt Lakes. He sometimes begins work with a call from a supervisor at 2 a.m.
His day might include encounters with scorpions, rattlesnakes, or other wildlife. That's why he has gotten used to tapping on pipes or the metal housings of equipment before reaching inside. "If I hear a rattle, then I'll know," he said.
The job can be uncomfortable, especially when dealing with scorching summer temperatures.
"The hotter it gets, the more load the system requires," he said. Sometimes, he and his colleagues also work around fire crews as they try to put out blazes.
He's often lugging power poles, wiring, tools, and other heavy equipment, and he frequently drives SRP service trucks. The work can be dangerous too, despite SRP's preoccupation with safety.
Still, Joersz, who grew up in a largely rural area of far northern Idaho, said it's a good fit for him. "I often don't know what I'll be doing" when starting a shift, he said. "I love it."
Many opportunities in healthcare
Several large hospitals and medical centers are among the state's employment leaders. Banner has ranked first for jobs on The Republic 100 since 2015, when it overtook Walmart, which has remained in second place over that span.
Shelby Cordova is a Banner employee. She began her career as a marriage and family therapist at another company, with a master's degree in the field, but decided to pursue her passion for nursing.
"I'm a hands-on, busy-body person," said Cordova, who lives in Casa Grande and works at Banner Casa Grande Medical Center. Though she still uses her therapist skills, she calls nursing more of a front-line position where she interacts with patients in different ways and can monitor changes in their health.
Cordova, 31, works in women and infant care at Banner Casa Grande Medical Center. She likes what she calls the warm, inviting culture of the facility and appreciates a job that allows her to live nearby.
She said there's no typical day for her as a nurse.
"It could be delivering a baby, working in the operating room, or helping to care for a mom or a baby in other ways," said Cordova, a married mother of two daughters. "Our days are not easy, but it's very rewarding and purposeful."
Wide nursing gap
Nursing is one of the professions with plenty of openings in Arizona, with the National Center for Health Workforce predicting Arizona soon will have a shortage of nearly 30,000 registered nurses, out of around 110,000 registered nurses now working in the state and another 55,000 or so nonregistered nurses.
“Every area of nursing is in demand, but registered nurses who provide direct patient care are critical to improving patient outcomes,” said Amber Kool, an associate vice president at the Arizona College of Nursing.
Areas outside metro Phoenix are being hit hardest. “Shortages mean rural residents may have to travel further for specialty care and critical care,” she said.
Kool described nursing as a great profession that provides good pay, ample work opportunities and fulfillment in other ways. “Nursing is built on the fundamental values of caring, diligence, teamwork, service, and leadership,” she said.
Arizona officials estimate nursing will see the highest long-term percentage job growth of any occupation in the state through 2032. Other growth occupations include physician assistants, various other medical assistants, information-security analysts, data scientists, veterinary technicians, statisticians, and solar equipment installers.
Employment back in balance
While Arizona and even the nation aren't adding jobs at the same brisk pace they had been, the employment market is still solid, said Travis Laird, senior regional vice president at talent-solutions company Robert Half Inc. in Phoenix.
"We're coming off some really robust years, but it's still a healthy jobs market," he said. "Employers are still hiring at a healthy pace."
In a recent survey, Robert Half found that 86% of employers are encountering hiring challenges including finding applicants with the right qualifications and meeting their salary requests.
One recent trend Laird has noticed is companies making more of an effort to interview and vet candidates.
"Before, candidates might need to have checked only six of 10 boxes before they were hired," he said. "Now, they might need to check eight of 10."
Arizona's overall employment has grown by around 1.9% over the past year, but state forecasters expect that to ease to around 1.4%.
Companies also are gradually trying to move more workers into the office from remote settings, though many firms still offer flexible scheduling, Laird said. Candidates, meanwhile, often are doing more research on employers and asking more questions to find a place where they can stay for the long term, he added.