Arizona Jobs Growing Despite Immigration Boycott

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Earlier this year there was a lot of noise, especially from Southern California, about the Arizona law known as SB 1070 that was approved by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. This is the law that dealt with immigrants, making it a misdemeanor for an immigrant to be without carrying required documents, authorizing local law enforcement officers to check whether someone they stop or detain is in the country legally, and attempts to crack down on those sheltering, hiring and otherwise exploiting illegal aliens.

Cries of racism, racial profiling, discrimination and other hot button labels were hurled at Arizona by various groups, many from California. Busloads of people from California went to Arizona to participate in protests against this legislation. Blogs (including this one) were laden with harsh criticism of Arizona and this law. The Obama Administration was a harsh critic, and has filed suit to try and prove that a state cannot adopt and enforce such a law.

And there were moves to engage in economic retaliation against the economy of Arizona. The Los Angeles City Council called for a boycott of Arizona businesses, as did numerous immigration rights groups and individuals. Hurt them in the pocketbook for being so heartless was the agenda.

So, against that background a story in the Arizona Republic newspaper on December 17 must be disheartening to those who attempted to wage economic war. Titled “Arizona’s job growth continues, outpaces U.S.” it reports that Arizona has added jobs in the last 4 months – a total of 12,800 jobs during that period. Calling most of this job growth seasonal, the article reports “the numbers demonstrate that Arizona’s employment picture is slowly improving and indicate that employers are feeling better about hiring.” The article also notes that this is a 1 percent growth in Arizona employment compared to .6 percent nationally. Meanwhile, employment news reported on KNX radio on December 15 was that unemployment in Los Angeles County has just risen to 12.9%, an all time high since the great depression. Maybe rather than go to Arizona to protest it would make more sense to go to Arizona to find a job.

So, were the calls for an economic boycott of Arizona just bluff and bluster? Just a bunch of noise made by demagogues? An attempt that lacked significant commitment and staying power? Given that Arizona job creation seems to be doing better than the national average, one has to wonder.


About Over But Not Out

A retired Orange County employee, and moderate Republican. The editor seriously does not know OBNO's identity as did not the former editor, but his point of view is obviously interesting and valued.