(upbeat music) - Coming up next on this special Labor Day edition of Arizona Horizon, a look at how the state's three universities are working together to bring more high-wage jobs to Arizona.

That, and more next on this special edition of Arizona Horizon.

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- Good evening, and welcome to this special Labor Day edition of Arizona Horizon.

I'm Ted Simons.

We begin this Labor Day show with a look at what's called the new economy initiative.

It's a project involving Arizona's three major universities, and is designed to help attract a significant number of new high-paying jobs to the state.

The goals include creating 40,000 new high-wage jobs by 2041 and increasing Arizona's economic output to $6.9 billion by 2032.

We learn more about ASU's role in the initiative from Dr. Sally Morton, the executive vice president of ASU's Knowledge Enterprise.

Welcome to Arizona Horizon.

Thanks for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- This New Economy Initiative, let's define terms as to what we're talking about here.

- Okay.

The New Economy Initiative is an exciting and forward-thinking investment by the state to build the future new economy of Arizona and one that will benefit all Arizonans, and Arizona State University is excited to be a part of it.

- I was gonna say, Arizona State University and other universities and state, as well.

Talk about university involvement, because I know that ASU, in particular, loves cross-disciplinary kind of things, we're gonna see a lot of different things from different parts of the university?

- Absolutely.

Each of the state universities, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona has been given a specific assignment in the New Economy Initiative, assignments that map to the university's strengths.

Not surprisingly, ASU's assignment is connected to engineering and technology.

But as you said, it isn't just about engineering because the new economy is technology-driven, it's also involves social sciences, the humanities and the arts.

So, I expect to see all parts of the university involved.

- And the goal of this is what?

To create jobs, create certain jobs?

Are there metrics that need to be reached, what's going on?

- All those things are important.

The first thing we have to do is define what we mean by the new economy.

The new economy is sweeping the world and we need Arizona to be right at the forefront of that.

It's a technology-driven economy, it's knowledge-based, it's virtual, it's digital health, advanced manufacturing using artificial intelligence.

Our goal, yes, is to create jobs, and not just any jobs, but high-paying jobs that are resilient to downturns in the economy.

- I was gonna mention that, resilient to downturns in the economy, not just recessions and the more traditional downturns, but we just got through with the pandemic that turned everything upside down.

Is that what this will be focused on as well?

- Yes.

During the pandemic, close to 50% of families in Arizona experienced a decrease in family income.

And what we wanna do is move to jobs and industries that are resistant to that type of disruption, and that's what the new economy initiative will do.

- With the goal of, what, increasing economic output by a certain degree?

- Yes.

We are, going back to your previous question, in terms of metrics, we're thinking about number of jobs, we're thinking about the number of students that we produce, the number of new industries that we attract to Arizona, the number of startups, and frankly, the economic impact of the New Economy Initiative after a certain number of years.

- I read that one of the goals is to double the return on the state's investment by 2032.

Explain how that would work.

- Well, they've actually predicted that through economic models, the state is putting an important investment in the New Economy Initiative.

Also at Arizona State, we're putting our own resources in.

For example, we've just opened a new school of manufacturing in our schools of engineering.

We opened that in the fall, and that connects right to the new economy initiative.

- And I guess, the new economy would also suggest maybe pivoting away a little bit from traditional economic activities in Arizona, like construction, and tourism, and real estate?

- I think those will still be an important part of Arizona, but again, the economy in the entire world is moving so fast that Arizona really needs to be part of that.

Let me give you an example.

There are new technologies that use water more efficiently in agriculture.

These are actually at the individual plant-level, how much water should we give to each plant.

Those technology is being developed.

I think Arizona asked itself the question, should we be a state that buys that technology from another state, or should we be the state that develops that technology, invents the jobs that goes along with it and sells that technology to other states?

- Was it difficult to get the state to answer that question?

- No.

I think this was a bipartisan effort, politicians from both sides of the house, as well as the governor supported it, civic groups, chambers of commerce from across the state all came together collectively and said it's important to do this for our state.

- Are there best practices to look at?

Any other models out there?

Is this something relatively unique?

- I think some other states are doing this, but I think there's a lot of exciting things about what we're gonna do in Arizona.

One of the most exciting parts of the New Economy Initiative, for me, are the science and technology centers that we're developing.

These are the intellectual hubs of the initiative.

We've already started two, one in advanced manufacturing, and the other in energy, materials, and devices.

So these are things like car batteries that will hold charge for longer.

These are places where our faculty will come together, the world class faculty that we have at ASU, the experts in their fields will bring together the industry partners who have the questions that we need to answer.

And also, the secret sauce, we'll bring in the students so they can really be part of solving real-world problems.

I think those science and technology centers are terribly exciting.

- Last question here.

What's next?

I mean, how do we know when the new economy initiative it's doing its work and results are getting, at least, results are being shown?

- Well, a couple of things, we're already doing the work.

Just as one example, we're not only educating students, the regular college students that we all know and love, but we're also providing courses for employers to give to their employees, as well as someone who might say to himself or herself, "I'd like to get a job in micro electronics, it would be higher-paying, it would be better for my family."

ASU is providing courses so that anyone can be part of the new economy.

- This is my last question, we asked if the state had bought into this.

Is business buying into this?

- Absolutely.

I go out and give talks, as I said, to chambers of commerce and other groups.

And after the talks, people are just coming up to me, giving me their business cards, saying, "How do I get involved?"

And I say, "Great.

Let's get you involved."

- Sounds encouraging.

Dr. Sally Morton, ASU Knowledge Enterprise.

Doctor, good to have you here.

Thanks for joining us.

- Thank you very much.

And up next on this Labor Day edition of Arizona Horizon, how gig work allows older adults to return to the workforce after retirement.

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(gentle music) - We care about things that affect the lives of every American.

- We are there at the front line.

- To get to the heart of what really matters in every issue.

- This country has not seen this in 80 years.

- This extraordinary moment in American history.

- You're making such a huge impact.

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- As the cost of living continues to rise, many previously retired workers in Arizona are returning to the labor force as independent contractors doing on-call, temporary, or part-time work, also known as gig work.

For many seniors, it's due to their financial situation, but for others, it's just something to do.

We learn more about gig work from Wayne Goshkarian with the Association for Entrepreneurship USA.

Wayne, thank you for joining us in Arizona Horizon.

We appreciate your time on us.

We're talking retirees returning to work.

How common is this?

- [Wayne] Well, it's really extremely common today.

I think of my grandparents who landed at Ellis Island and they worked somewhere for 30 years.

And they had a nice pension plan and social security, and they sat in that rocking chair and their house was paid off, and life was good.

But so much has changed since then.

Many of us who plan to stay at a company for a long period of time get bought out, our pension plans are not funded properly, or we just, because of putting kids through school for education and life's challenges, we didn't save as much as we used to, and we get to 65 and we look at that social security notice and say, "You're gonna get $1,700 a month from social security."

And you say, "You know what?

I think I'm gonna have to go back to work or have to continue working."

So I think a lot of people are faced with that today.

- And I understand that for those with lower income, even mid income, for the higher income though, that are somewhat set as far as retirement.

A lot of those folks are going back to work as well.

What are the reasoning there?

- Well, you're actually looking at one.

I retired myself in 2006, and frankly, I got bored.

I had two small kids, I was a single parent.

I had enough money to sustain myself for the rest of my life.

But as the kids got older, I just got bored to death.

We literally spend most of our entire adult age working, getting up in the morning, being productive, social contact with coworkers, having a purpose.

And to get up one day and say, "Oh, you don't need to do that anymore."

I'm gonna retire, I'm getting my social security.

My pension checks coming in, the house is paid off.

It's boring, to be honest with you, I went through it myself.

So, I went back to work.

I started another company.

I'm 62, myself.

I got my notice that I could start collecting at 62, $1,700 a month.

And I say, what am I gonna do with that?

So I might as well continue working and growing a business and enjoying life.

- Starting a new business, obviously, an option for some, an option for you.

For others, though, there's the gig economy.

How does that factor into all this?

- Well, I think the gig economy, with the internet, smartphones, has really empowered someone sitting at home and earning an income.

It gives you the flexibility of working at home, not having to have set hours, making as little or as much as you want.

And I think it's empowered.

It's interesting, during the coronavirus, I was at a restaurant, and I asked the waitress, "What is it like to wear this mask all day long?"

This is kind of the beginning of it.

And she says, "Well, I sell 'em on eBay."

The internet and the smartphone has changed everything, just watch an episode or two of Shark Tank.

Entrepreneurship, the gig economy, has really expanded in a way to allow almost anybody with a passion or a desire to do something, to be able to make money as much or as little as they want.

- With all this in mind, what should retirees take into account when preparing for retirement and maybe looking past retirement saying, "I wouldn't mind getting back into the workforce?"

- Right.

Well, let's take the people that are, we'll call it the bottom two thirds.

The wealthy, they're set, they got their nice houses, maybe multiple houses, and they're just working because they got nothing else better to do and they figured.

But those bottom two, the two thirds, are sitting and saying, "Well, look, first of all, you should have all your money in the stock market because this stock market could change."

And then you've lost most of your assets.

So really, secure your assets in a more suitable place, but more importantly, think about what are your goals and what's your vision, values and goals.

Are you wanting to travel more?

Well then, you have to start thinking about how much extra money you're gonna have to make to continue that lifestyle.

Many parents, or rather grandparents, are actually taking care of their kids.

Their daughter has two kids and she got divorced, and now they're finding themselves raising another family, things that didn't occur when my grandparents were alive.

So retirees are facing, in fact, someone in our office, her son, who has two kids, just got twins.

So now he has four children.

She's finding herself having to care for them and help with those four grandchildren that she has.

So retirees are faced with so much different set of circumstances than they did 30 or 40 years ago.

- Interesting stuff.

Wayne Goshkarian, Association for Entrepreneurship USA.

Sir, good stuff.

Thank you for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

(upbeat music) - The Precisionists is an IT and global administrative services company that helps people with disabilities and autism find jobs.

The company provides training and experience for the workers that can often be found in other places.

The company hopes to employ 10,000 people with disabilities by 2025.

For more on this, as well as more on a new facility that opened in Phoenix, we spoke to the CEO of The Precisionists, Ernie Dianastasis.

Ernie, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate your time on this and the information you're offering here.

Let's start with the defining terms.

What is The Precisionists?

- The Precisionists is an IT and business administrative services company that perform a lot of projects for major companies.

But what's really interesting and unique about us is that a part of our workforce design is that we utilize and engage a number of neurodivergent resources in our company, and working side-by-side with neurotypical talent to perform the work for our customers.

- So it sounds as though your focus here is working with people with autism, correct?

Do I get that right?

- That's certainly one of the major components of the neurodivergent workforce, yes, people that have autism.

- We're talking jobs now, we're not just talking finding jobs for these folks, we're talking finding meaningful jobs.

Talk to us about that.

- So, yeah.

The thing that's really interesting is, up until now, and for many, many years, 75 to 80% of people on the autism spectrum have been under or unemployed, and either working odd jobs that don't come anywhere near using their talents, or they've been fully unemployed and had given up hope.

We're able to create wonderful career opportunities for these individuals and give them a chance to really build a long term career.

- And to that end, now you've opened a new facility, a new innovation and technology center in Phoenix.

- We have, yeah, it's our third one.

We also have these centers, we have one in Wilmington, Delaware, and one in Nashville, Tennessee, and Phoenix is the latest one that we just opened.

- And what does this facility do in terms of helping these folks?

- Well, it plays a couple of roles.

One, when we find a talent that we believe we can bring on board to do the types of jobs we do, we have to first get them workforce-ready.

And so, in this facility, we do an assessment and training program that typically runs three to four weeks long, and whereby we're showing them not only the technical skills that they'll need for the type of job that we're hiring them for, but also we teach them important skills around professionalism and working in a corporate work environment.

And again, things that they never had a chance to learn before, like working on teams, making presentations, email etiquette, the do's and don'ts of being in a professional work environment, all things that are really important as they launch a career.

The other thing we do is-- - Go ahead.

- I was gonna say, the other thing that happens in this facility is that we do projects for customers.

And so, the initial project that we're doing now, and that helped us launch the center is a project we're doing with SRP, Salt River Project.

They've been a terrific partner around neurodiverse employment with us, and we're doing one of the projects for them out of our facility.

And so, the other part of this facility is to do projects, live projects for customers.

- Yeah.

The mayor of Phoenix says that Phoenix is the most autism-friendly city in the world.

Do you agree with that?

- That quote actually came from PBS a few years ago in one of their shows.

They were doing a program, and talked about Phoenix as the number one autism-friendly city in the country, if not the world.

And I believe it.

After having spent a lot of time, we do a lot of homework before we enter a new market.

Not only does there have to be a great workforce potentially available, a good base of companies, a vibrant economy, Phoenix checks off all those boxes.

But the other piece that's just as important is that the community has to be a strong one, and one that's passionate and committed to neurodiversity, and to autism, and to creating successful outcomes for people, and Phoenix absolutely met those criteria.

- Well, Ernie, congratulations on the work that you do.

Congratulations on the new technology center.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- My pleasure.

Thanks.

- I was so excited when I learned that I was gonna be the next moderator of Washington Week.

I was incredibly lucky to be mentored by Gwen Eiffel.

And what that gave to me was this confidence that I could be my full self and that I was deserving in whatever spaces I was in.

Welcome to Washington Week.

I also feel this great joy in taking the helm of Washington Week knowing that I can mold it and make it my own, but also make sure that it is still within the legacy and the tradition that made it so great for all of these years.

- [Announcer] We wanna hear from you.

Submit your questions, comments, and concerns via email at arizonahorizon@asu.edu - As pride awareness spreads across the country, many LGBTQ+ businesses are busier than ever with entrepreneurs thinking creatively when it comes to business decisions.

Cronkite News reporter, Jessica Herrera, has more about how these businesses contribute to the economy.

- [Jessica] Phoenix Coqui, a Puerto Rican eatery, had its first taste of success as a popular food truck in the Melrose district.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the owners decided to expand with a restaurant when the economy wasn't at its best.

- We knew that we had already hit that peak in our food truck business.

Really when you get to the point where you're running out of food every weekend and you still have people wanting to buy, then you're, at that point, just losing money.

- [Jessica] LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, like Carbajal, also feel the effects of inflation and are thinking of new ways to balance out the cost for customers.

- With our pricing, we developed a fast casual model.

So that way, we're not spending a lot of that money on a lot of server staff, wait staff, hostess, it really helps us keep those prices low so that we still see a lot of customers coming in.

- According to the US Small Business Administration, there are 1.4 million LGBTQ+ owned businesses across the country, they help generate trillions to the economy.

- That is major.

Absolutely a huge buying power.

- [Jessica] Members of the LGBTQ+ community encourage others to think before they buy.

- Definitely need to be aware of where we're spending our dollars and how we can help our community by buying local, and buying from small businesses.

- [Jessica] And showing support can be quite simple.

- Pride sticker on the door, small little gesture like that shows people, right from the get go, it's a welcoming space, it's a safe space, and all are welcome.

- [Jessica] The LGBTQ+ business community, like others, are learning and adapting to the ever-changing economy.

Carbajal says the use of social media contributed to their success.

- Facebook and Instagram have both been keys in us just being able to stay in people's feeds and letting know what's going on with our business.

- [Jessica] As more businesses open up, so do job opportunities.

In Phoenix, Jessica Herrera, Cronkite News.

- According to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, the LGBTQ+ community spends $917 billion every year on goods and services in the US.

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- And that is it for now.

I'm Ted Simons.

Thank you so much for joining us on this special edition of Arizona Horizon.

You have a great evening.