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Finding your very first job might be easy, since people will always need their cars washed and their burgers flipped. Finding the right job to advance your career, however, can be difficult, especially when the economy is troubled.
So where exactly does Phoenix stand in this depressed job market?
The expert consensus isn’t anything revolutionary: It could be better, but it also could be much worse.
In each of the past three years, the Phoenix area created about 95,000 new jobs, and this year’s number is estimated to be about 60,000, according to Business 2.0 Magazine, a CNN product. These figures have helped rank Arizona 46th in the nation when it comes to job growth. That’s a dismal drop considering the state had the highest job growth rate in early 2006.
The decline largely is due to the national mortgage crisis and the massive decrease in construction. However, Arizona’s economy is still strong due to sunny weather and low income taxes – conditions that are attracting a steady stream of newcomers, primarily from the Northeast and Midwest.
More residents mean more roads, schools, stores and health care facilities, and that growth should create jobs that support Phoenix’s long-term infrastructure.   
Overall, the Phoenix job market is in much better shape than a lot of other cities, according to Krisanne Elsner, owner of Southwest Recruiting Services, a small local recruiting company.
“We still have a relatively strong economy here, but it’s definitely not as strong as a year ago,” Elsner says.
She blames the severe decline in mortgage and construction sectors, as does Amanda Wistrom, Phoenix branch manager of Robert Half International, which has staffing operations in more than 360 locations worldwide, including Arizona.
Some of the mortgage-related workers are finding jobs in commercial real estate, Wistrom says, but that one industry can only absorb so much.
Overall, the hiring activity in Phoenix is still ahead of the national average, Wistrom says.