Connecting Employers with Job Seekers

“Help Wanted” signs are in the windows and on marquees of businesses all over Yavapai County. It seems nearly everyone feels the challenges of attracting and maintaining the staffing required to operate and provide the desired and necessary services to our community, whether you are the business owner or the consumer. According to the Emsi Quarter 2 Data Set (economicmodeling.com), Yavapai County’s population increased by 19,335 in the last five years and is projected to grow by 16,131 through the next five years. Jobs grew by 4,966 in the last five years (+6.7%), and are projected to grow by 10,983 through the next five years. This outpaces the national jobs growth rate of 0.7% by 6.0%. However, as the number of jobs increased, the labor force participation rate decreased from 51.3% to 50.4%, resulting in competition between employers for labor.

The temptation to assume that the workforce has grown complacent with workers staying at home or receiving government subsidies can skew the facts. In December 2021, the Yavapai County labor force consisted of a population of 105,633, of which 103,109 were employed and only 2,524 county-wide were unemployed. According to the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity Labor Market Report, the May 2022 unemployment rate in Yavapai County was a low 2.7%, down by 2.1% from the same time last year – we are 0.9% better than the U.S. unemployment rate. The highest demographic for unemployment (2020 population data) is among youth aged 16 to 19 (16.8%), followed by ages 25-34 years (9.5%) and 20-24 years (7.8%).

The data indicates that outreach and training to populations aged 16-34 years is in high demand. However, compared to our population statistics, this county continues to demand an innovative approach to establishing a strong, resilient workforce to meet current and forecasted growth. The top three in-demand occupations are in Commercial Driver License (CDL) (3,701 job openings annually/$45.4K annually), Aircraft Mechanics/Service Technicians (537 job openings annually/$62.2K annually), and Licensed Practical/Licensed Vocational Nurses (691 job openings annually/$54K annually). Besides these careers, occupations in health care, sales, administrative support, transportation/delivery, hospitality, management and more are continually being offered in large numbers.

Yavapai County is growing! Economic development and workforce development practitioners, as well as our partners at the colleges and universities, work consistently to attract, train and retain a sustainable talent pipeline.

Resources are available to make the connections between employers and job seekers. Since 1976, Yavapai County has participated in federal funding opportunities such as the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) of 1973, Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) of 1982, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, to today’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014. WIOA opportunities in Yavapai County are overseen by the privately-led Workforce Development Board.

Some of the services offered through WDB YAVAPAI@WORK include:

• Robust national outreach and recruitment, training and placement services
• Skill/Interest Assessments
• High School Diploma/High School Equivalency (HSE) Certification (also known as GED)
• Tuition/Books/Exam Financial Assistance for occupational training
• Job Development/Career Placement
• Paid On-the-Job Training and Work Experience
• Support Services to assist with obtaining/maintaining employment or education

We are calling on all employers and job seekers to reach out to the YAVAPAI@WORK team at 928-778-1422 for more information.

Yavapai County WDB has all of the ingredients for continued economic success. We promote innovation and continuous improvement to the greater community and work consistently with every city and town in our great county to assist and support our local businesses. QCBN

By Teri Drew

Teri Drew is the executive director of the Yavapai County Workforce Development Board.