Arizona has seen its worst job loss count ever in recent years, with 305,000 lost jobs since December 2007 (and more than 200,000 lost in the metro Phoenix region).  — Dennis Hoffman, Arizona State University economics professor

Local experts recommend new ingredients to bring Phoenix out of its economic morass. But we’re still a long way from finding the perfect recipe.

Risk-taking entrepreneurs. An anticipated surge in government and nonprofit jobs. A health care safety net. Slashing red tape for small businesses. These are the catalysts that could help kick start the Valley’s lagging job market.

At least, that’s the belief of community leaders and Arizona State University faculty who gathered at a metro Phoenix jobs forum held December 11 at Civic Space Park in Downtown Phoenix.

The forum, which also included several ASU students on the brink of entering the workforce, was held in response to President Obama’s call for public debate on job creation. The suggestions that emerged from the forum were compiled into a report and sent to the White House.

With the fastest growing unemployment rate in the United States, a heavy dependence on tourism, a plethora of low-income jobs and an ongoing debate over undocumented workers, Arizona is running out of time when it comes to solutions.

Phoenix “must diversify its economic base to withstand” the current climate, says State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix. “We have that talent here. The interest in innovation is here, but we have to create the infrastructure and the safety net for creative people [to start new businesses].”

Arizona has seen its worst job loss count ever in recent years, with 305,000 lost jobs since December 2007 (and more than 200,000 lost in the metro Phoenix region), says Dennis Hoffman, an Arizona State University economics professor. Even with a slight decrease in unemployment numbers last November, Phoenix’s unemployment rate has risen from 3.6 percent in November 2007 to 8.7 percent in October 2009, according to Arizona Department of Commerce statistics.

So how can we turn the numbers around? What can the federal government do to lure jobs here? What can educators do to better prepare their students for the work force? In other words, Hoffman asks, “When will the misery end?”

Preparing future workers to enter the job market is key, Hoffman says. Students need to be better prepared socially to interview and to engage in conversation.

On a broader level, federal government can help by facilitating opportunities in the private sector, Sinema says. Money for job training that legislators swept away due to the state’s former $3 billion budget shortfall needs to be restored.

And entrepreneurs can help simply by starting businesses. Banks are hesitant to loan to small businesses, however, and even though stimulus money is available to help, too much red tape hinders progress, Sinema says.

“We need less red tape and a faster way to get permits and federal funds,” Sinema says. “We need to continue investing in research and development to create new jobs and a fertile ground for future waves of jobs.”

Audrey Iffert, an innovation fellow with ASU’s Office of University Initiatives, stresses that “entrepreneurship is the catalyst. Without start-ups, the next job creation for the American economy would be negative. Start-ups stimulate economy. More than half the Fortune 500 companies were started in a recession.”

ASU alum Sean Coleman has taken the start-up leap. Coleman decided corporate life wasn’t for him, so he recently started Orange Slyce, a Tempe-based online service that matches small businesses and college students.

“I’m a firm believer small businesses are the backbone of Arizona jobs,” says Coleman, who graduated in December with a degree in computer engineering.

Coleman may be on the path to success already, but ASU needs to offer support to “reluctant entrepreneurs,” says Nancy Jurik, an ASU professor of justice and social inquiry in the School of Social Transformation. “So many [students] want to start businesses but need help. Community partnerships are really important,” she says.

 Health care security also is a vital part to economic growth. Young people graduating with a master’s degree in business administration “don’t have the ability to take risks because of health care concerns,” Sinema says. Instead, “they’re choosing to work for mainstream companies,” which is the longer route to being creative and starting their own companies, she adds.

A silver lining comes with an expected plethora of government jobs and positions in the nonprofit sector opening in the next few years as senior employees prepare to retire, says Debra Friedman, ASU’s vice president and dean of the university’s College of Public Programs.

Sixty-one percent of federal workers will be eligible to retire in six years, leaving the state “quite ill-equipped” unless these jobs are filled, Friedman says.

“Talented young people are choosing to go into other fields besides government,” she says. “We’re calling this the ‘not asked generation.’”