2016’s Best & Worst Cities to Find a Job > Tools in The Economic Development Tool-Box

Let's start off with an assumption that five cities in the Valley of The Sun - Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert - all have access to and use all the same tools in their economic development Tool-Box. [see image to left]
Mesa's Director of Economic Development Bill Jabjiniak writes that it's a competitive environment.
"Today, competitiveness encompasses more than being low cost. Companies focus on regions with features that enhance their productivity and ability to compete in a global marketplace."

He goes on to say that cities in the region are competitors reinvesting and creating economic development tools that they have and use against us [?]
Use this link to access the newsletter >>http://www.mesaaz.gov/business/economic-development/news-room/economic-reporter-newsletter/first-quarter-2016

A fundamental change is underway in the practice of economic development and in the very ways in which regions compete for economic growth.
As the global economy shifted from manufacturing to innovation, geography was supposed to matter less. But the pundits were wrong. A new map is being drawn and it's not about red versus blue or rich versus poor. The rise of American brain hubs is causing huge geographic disparities in education, income, life expectancy, family stability, and political engagement. Dealing with this split—encouraging growth in the hubs while arresting the decline elsewhere—will be the challenge of the century, and The New Geography of Jobs lights the way
Publisher Houghton Mifflin http://www.hmhbooks.com/newgeographyofjobs/

 . . . so how's that working out for Mesa in this region?
Let's take a look at one metric: job creation

The business website WalletHub recently published a study you can find here >> https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-jobs/2173/ about job creation that starts out like this
"Now that 2015 is behind us, it’s time to start thinking again about fresh starts. But whether that entails making a small change or a complete life overhaul, finding a new or better job will be a top New Year’s resolution for many Americans . . . Your luck of finding employment, of course, depends on where you live. In order to assess the relative strength of local job markets, WalletHub’s analysts compared 150 of the most populated U.S. cities across 17 key metrics. They range from job opportunities to employment growth."
The results: Mesa is ranked the lowest of the five cities. [Overall rank numbers are added]
Scottsdale 59.83 #16
Chandler 58.74 #20
Gilbert 57.19 #28
Phoenix 53.08 #47
Mesa 52.75 #50

Room for improvement? .....yes and the questions remain who, how and what strategies can deliver the results and outcomes?