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The Livable Tucson Vision Program - Better Paying Jobs
Better Paying Jobs

Better Paying Jobs

Goals
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Definition:Includes wages, job quality, job diversity, and an improved standard of living.

What the community said:

  • "Attract and create jobs with a living wage."
  • "We need to aggressively pursue new employment opportunities. Future generations are leaving our city to earn a livable wage."
  • "Creating industry that will sustain higher paying jobs is a must."
  • "Create jobs that benefit the community while not damaging the environment."

City Department/Office Support for this Goal:

  • Economic Development - assisting businesses that provide above-average wages to grow and prosper and working closely with other agencies to assist in the location and retention of such businesses
  • Planning - facilitating the location of businesses to Tucson by providing research and policy analysis

Key Indicators of Progress:

  1. Percent of hiring from local job pool The percentage of newly hired employees for living wage jobs that are from Tucson reflects the quality of Tucson's workforce and the ability of Tucson residents to secure better paying jobs. This information can be collected through surveys with key Tucson employers.

    2. Source: Business survey

  2. Percentage of employees with health benefits Private health insurance help to insure that families are well taken care. As this indicator increases, we know that people are getting better, quality jobs and families have health care available to them. This can be measured through a citizen survey asking people whether they have health care coverage through their job.

    3. Source: Resident survey

  3. Homeownership rates The percentage of residences that are owner occupied compared to the total number of residences indicates how well families are doing financially and the degree to which opportunities for homeownership are available to all. An increase in homeownership rates would indicate that poverty rates are declining, would help to increase investment and pride in neighborhoods, and help to improve lower income areas of the City.

    4. graph of home ownership in Tucson
    Source: US Census Bureau

  4. Income needed to support basic needs This measure of income looks at the percentage of median family income that it takes to adequately meet basic needs. This is a straightforward measure of the ability of families to support themselves. Economic data are used to measure this indicator.

    5. Staff has preliminary data and is researching collection and analytical methods

    Source: State Department of Economic Security data on Basic Needs and The University of Arizona College of Business

  5. Average Earnings in Tucson The community has indicated that better wages are a good sign of economic progress at the household level. The University of Arizona College of Business has developed a graph of average earnings per employee, adjusted for inflation, over the past thirty years. This shows recent improvement after many years of declines. Graph of employee earnings from 1971 to 1998

    Source: UA College of Business and Public Administration, Division of Economic and Business Research. 1997 and 1998 data are forecasts.

What YOU Can Do

  • Get sufficient education and training for quality jobs
  • Work with local organizations that help small businesses succeed
  • Encourage young people to learn new skills

Featured Project for this goal indicator.