Archive for July, 2009

High-tech employment presents mixed picture

Technology-heavy industries, including defense, biosciences and aerospace, depend on the UA for degreed workers and research.

But employment in Southern Arizona’s high-tech industries was a mixed bag in 2010.

BIOsciences

The biggest news in the local bioscience industry was the announcement that Oro Valley-based Ventana Medical Systems would invest $180 million in a campus expansion expected to add up to 500 jobs over the next several years.

Ventana, founded in 1985 on technology developed by University of Arizona pathology professor Dr. Thomas Grogan, has kept growing after being acquired in 2008 by Swiss drug giant Roche.

Ventana, which makes automated slide-staining instruments for diagnostics and drug research, reported 1,008 full-time equivalent employees at the end of 2010, up from 965 in the prior year.

Ventana isn’t giving details about the next steps in its expansion. But a spokeswoman said the company plans to hire a range of workers in the coming year, including research associates, scientists, pathologists, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, as well as manufacturing, marketing, sales and customer support specialists.

To help foster development of biotech workers, Ventana participates in an intern program at the UA’s Bio5 Institute as well as the Southern Arizona Science and Math Intern Cooperation program. The company also holds a Young Scientists Day to encourage high school students to go into science careers.

Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis expanded last year into a new, 110,350-square-foot research center in Oro Valley. The company employs about 70 people in drug research, after transferring some workers from elsewhere to the new facility.

Many of Southern Arizona’s non-hospital biosciences firms are too small to make the Star 200, but their numbers add up.

In Tucson, job growth in research, testing and medical laboratories grew by 33 percent from 2002 to 2009. During the same period, Tucson’s hospital jobs grew by 20 percent, according to a study by the Battelle Memorial Institute Technology Partnership Practice.

DEFENSE

Raytheon Missile Systems – a major employer of UA engineering grads – remained the region’s biggest employer, reporting 10,500 local workers, even after shedding about 225 salaried employees last April.

Usually tight-lipped about specific reasons for job cuts, Raytheon cited the cancellation of three developmental programs as part of the reason for the layoffs.

At a business leadership conference in January, Raytheon Missile Systems President Taylor Lawrence said his industry is under pressure from expected cuts to the U.S. defense budget.

But he said Raytheon has cut few jobs relative to other defense contractors and is well-positioned to succeed as budgets tighten.

Lawrence said Raytheon’s diversified product lines include systems “at the sweet spot of where national security needs are,” citing the expansion of the role of the company’s Standard Missile-3 for missile defense.

Other defense contractors, including General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman in Sierra Vista, reported essentially flat payrolls.

Among military employers, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca reported a few more employees.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base reported 8,462 equivalent employees, down from an adjusted total of 8,586 in the prior year (see note on Page 17).

Aerospace

Rising fuel costs continue to challenge the airline industry, but there were some positive signs in Southern Arizona’s aerospace and aviation sector.

After several years of flat payrolls, Bombardier Aerospace added about 40 workers to its commercial and business aircraft service centers last year, bringing its worker count to 631.

B/E Aerospace, a maker of aircraft interiors, reported 390 local workers at the end of 2010, up 30 from the prior year.

Sargent Aerospace & Defense (formerly Sargent Controls & Aerospace) reported local employment flat at about 256 workers at the end of 2010.

But in June, Sargent said it will double the physical size of its Marana operations with a new building. The company said it would add employees but it is unclear when or how many.

Honeywell Aerospace continued to shed workers, reporting 630 employers at the end of 2010, down from 695 in the prior year.

SOLAR ENERGY

Fueled by generous taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies, the renewable-energy sector has added a substantial number of local jobs in the past few years.

While they’re not top-200 employers, photovoltaic panel makers Solon Corp. and Global Solar Energy Inc. added employees last year, each reporting a year-end total of 130 workers.

Schletter Inc., which makes metal mounting systems for solar installations, expanded to triple its space, and its full-time work force grew to about 80 last year from 45 in 2009.

And Tucson has seen a boom in the number of solar installation companies. The list of installers in Tucson Electric Power Co. territory has swelled from 14 in 2007 to more than 100, and established companies have expanded.

Those companies installed nearly 1,000 home solar systems and about 20 commercial systems on TEP’s system last year.

How long that momentum in solar hiring continues is unclear. Some critics say that despite rapidly falling costs, solar remains too expensive, and subsidies could be cut amid budget pressures and backlash from ratepayers.

This is actually pretty cool. The LA Times put out an interactive chart that allows you the opportunity to take your stab at balancing the out of control California budget. As you go through the exercise drop some of the numbers and you get a sense of what Arizona is up against.  California has a big elephant in the room with their Prop 13 which locked in property taxes on existing homeowners. Arizona has it’s own pesky voter mandated spending which locks in education and other services totaling over 60% of the total budget. The good news is that it’s not going to get much better because the voters also approved automatic annual increases. 

Give it a try HERE.