Companies base expansion and relocation decisions on the availability of talent in a city or region. Without robust talent pipelines, the Greater Phoenix region risks losing companies and high-wage jobs. Serving as a catalyst for partnership, the Foundation convenes six employer-led workforce collaboratives to address the growing skills gap facing our community: Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Cybersecurity, Financial Services, Health Care, and Information Technology (IT). Each collaborative focuses on engaging key stakeholders to champion holistic and scalable workforce solutions for the Greater Phoenix region. The Foundation subscribes to the employer-driven U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management™ (TPM) model, which uses supply chain principles to align educational outcomes with employer talent demands.
Capturing the Current State of the U.S. Workforce
9.8M
open jobs in the U.S.
5.9M
unemployed workers in the U.S.
3.8%
national quit rate
4.0%
national hiring rate
*Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Our workforce collaboratives accomplish their goals by:
- Aligning educational training to necessary job skills
- Providing work-based learning including apprenticeships and internships to prepare talent for open positions
- Promoting career awareness and opportunities for underrepresented populations in each respective industry
Workforce Collaboratives
AZ Careers NOW
AZ Careers NOW taps into the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation’s established workforce collaboratives to connect employers to job seekers eager to join our region’s workforce. The Foundation’s Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Cybersecurity, Financial Services, Health Care, and Information Technology (IT) workforce collaboratives continue to remain laser-focused on addressing the growing skills gap facing our community. Additionally, through AZ Careers NOW employers have access to unparalleled opportunities to proactively hire local high school seniors who have gained real-world work experiences through the Foundation’s education initiative, ElevateEdAZ.
State of the Workforce
In 2023, the Foundation released a new State of the Workforce report, describing key challenges, successes, and opportunities in workforce relative to specific industries in the Greater Phoenix region. View the 2023 report to dive deeper into the most current critical industry challenges and solutions to improving the talent pipeline.