With the economy getting better in a lot of states across the U.S. many people may wonder why it is not improving as much in Arizona. A general consensus throughout Arizona is that the economy will not improve until more people move here, but more people won’t move here until the unemployment rate drops. It makes sense for those people. Why move somewhere where there is a higher chance of you not landing a job? This outlook seems like a vicious cycle, and it is hard to see it changing any time soon. A lot of people look at the immigration law as having an impact on people moving to Arizona.
It makes sense that the law deters immigrants from moving to Arizona. Not only that, but people that are U.S. citizens, but opposed to the law may be less likely to move here and start work. This causes the Arizona unemployment rate to be around 8 percent, which is higher than the national average. The state economy remains linked to more people, and without those people it is difficult to improve. The message sent out by the immigration law can be read by immigrants as, “we don’t want you here” and this causes smart and innovative people from outside the country to shy away from wanting to move here. A lot of the most successful startups in the last 10 years are run by or co-founded by people that are immigrants. Filling job openings with local people is great for the current residents, but it becomes backed up when there are no more people left to fill these jobs. The jobs become left open, and this causes businesses to start to fail. More information on immigration law can be found here.