The Service Sector

I understand Arizona retained the top state in population growth last year -- lots of people flocking to the sun belt apparently, but I was wondering, what sorts of jobs might be available in the desert -- are any derived from local resources?

I ask because Phoenix is ground zero for surburbanized sprawl, with leapfrog development separated by distances impossible to manage by transit and brutal daily temperatures that force an aging population into perpetual air conditioning. A person can breakfast bathed in AC comfort, motor to work in an AC equipped vehicle to an office cubicle conditioned all night long to ensure a comfortable temperature upon arrival, and return home to a home programmed to condition the air starting at 3:00 PM.

A quick visit to the bureau of labor statistics informs me that nearly 1/3rd of Arizona, 27%, is employed in the services sector, compared to 17% for the U.S. general. Marriage counselors, paralegals, vocational education specialists, graphic designers, public relations specialists, respiratory therapists, dental assistants, bailiffs, short order cooks, card dealers and hairdressers. Apparently, Arizona employs more people for the leisure and comfort of much smaller professional and management sectors. There are about 35% more automobile service technicians per capita in Arizona than in the rest of the US, on average. I wonder why.

To keep this sunbelt service machine running, they import timber from elsewhere, coal from elsewhere, oil from elsewhere, agriculture from elsewhere, natural gas from elsewhere, and a few hundred thousand new trucks and automobiles each year from elsewhere. They have no local economy, other than the selling and servicing of cars and the building of sprawl. It's an economic backwater now that homes ain't being built are cars ain't being sold. I've stated that you can't have a community without also having a local economy. Arizona produces little. It takes in federal dollars to support its disproportionate military sector and social security and medicare to support its ever aging population.

What would happen if faced with an chronic energy shortage or depression? I think the whole state would just shut down. After the entitled residents stopped their bitching and whining, they might end up abandoning their precious golf courses and the state might lose population in the long run. There's a reason that American deserts were never home to a few million indigenous or early European peoples.

It might someday return to those historic population levels.