For Star subscribers: Tucson-area business and government leaders are focused on growing manufacturing jobs, citing relatively high pay and economic impact.
David Wichner Every day across the Tucson area, local factory workers are busy making everything from missiles to medical instruments, from archery equipment to dinnerware.
But in 2019, manufacturing generated 13.8% of the area’s gross domestic product, largely because of average annual wages of $92,786 per worker, which was $22,866 above the national average, according the Making Action Possible Dashboard, a project of the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona.
But aerospace and defense manufacturing accounts for about half of Tucson’s manufacturing jobs, led by the region’s biggest employer, Raytheon Missiles & Defense with about 13,000 workers.In 2007, Sun Corridor Inc., the Tucson region’s main economic development group, targeted four high-wage industry sectors for its business attraction and expansion efforts: aerospace and defense; renewable energy and mining; transportation and logistics; and bioscience and health care.
Snell said Tucson has carved out a growing niche in medical diagnostic manufacturing, which is led by Roche Tissue Diagnostics, which employs about 1,800 people making instruments and test kits at its main campus in Oro Valley and a recently expanded site in Marana. Shifting pipelineIn the mining space, heavy equipment maker Caterpillar built a new regional mining technology center in downtown Tucson that opened in 2019 and employs some 600 people, and it recently unveiled an all-electric haul truck and is developing a model sustainable mining site at its proving ground in Green Valley.
Battery boomA recent example is American Battery Factory, a startup that, if successful, could employ 1,000 people making advanced lithium iron phosphate batteries on a county site south of the airport.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Blu-ray Giveaway for Star Trek Prequel SeriesComingSoon has three Blu-ray copies of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 to give out ahead of the series' Blu-ray and DVD release.
Read more »
Paulina Gretzky fan sends clear message to Dustin Johnson at LIV Golf TucsonFormer Masters champion Dustin Johnson wasn’t the main draw for LIV Golf fans in Tucson, Arizona, over the weekend.
Read more »
Rosanne Cash returns for first post-pandemic Tucson showAt her Fox Tucson Theatre show, Cash and her husband will perform songs from her early albums and more recent works and tell stories about the songs.
Read more »
'Mean Girls' the musical is coming to TucsonThe show, based on Tina Fey's 2004 movie, has garnered rave reviews with many beginning with the word 'hilarious.'
Read more »
Plan Tucson: Workshop registration, survey openA number of workshops, both in-person and virtual, are coming up this spring to allow Tucsonans multiple opportunities to weight in as the city crafts updates to its general plan.
Read more »