During her 2025 State of the State Address, among her many exaggerations, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs made the dubious claim that “since [she] became governor, we’ve created[1] nearly 200,000 jobs.” This claim was suspect at the time, and the recent release of Arizona’s latest monthly employment data confirms just how misleading it really was. At the time of Hobbs’ address, available data showed that Arizona had added around 128,000 jobs total since she took office, 36 percent lower than the 200,000 Hobbs took credit for. In fact, you’d have to count all the way back to March 2022 (nine months before Hobbs took office) to capture 200,000 new jobs in Arizona.
When Hobbs addressed the Legislature, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) hadn’t yet released the December jobs data, so it was technically possible—though highly unlikely—that the state added nearly a year’s worth of jobs in a single month and Hobbs’ team had an early peek. The December data proved this was not the case, when Arizona added 3,400 jobs, not the more than 20 times that, which Hobbs needed for her claim to be true. Alarmingly, the state unemployment rate rose in December for the fourth straight month and fifth out of the last six months. While the national rate was stable over that same period, Arizona’s unemployment rate rose half a percentage point and Arizona, despite being slightly lower than the national average, is now in the bottom half of states.
Importantly, with the December jobs report, two full years of employment data are now available, marking the halfway point of Governor Hobbs’ term. The data raise significant red flags and confirm several alarming trends about Arizona’s employment market that we have written about in the past.
First, what does the data say about 2024? Last year, total nonfarm employment grew by just 1.7 percent. This annual growth rate is the second worst for the state since 2011, behind only 2020 in the peak of the COVID pandemic. Private sector growth was even lower and marked the second worst since 2010 (again, behind only 2020). Health care and social assistance jobs accounted for around 52 percent of new private sector jobs, despite making up only 16 percent of Arizona’s private sector.
Meanwhile, other key industries struggled. The state lost almost 3,000 construction jobs last year, one of only 10 states to do so, and ranked 44th overall. In her State of the State, Governor Hobbs proudly proclaimed that Arizona is “the top market in the nation for manufacturing expansion.” Last year the state lost 1,200 manufacturing jobs and was tied for 30th among all the states. In fact, since Hobbs took office, manufacturing is the second worst performing major industry, with 2,200 jobs lost.
One key theme throughout Hobbs’ first two years was the growth of government jobs, which rightly earned her the nickname “Katie Government Jobbs.” More government growth in 2024 meant Hobbs oversaw the largest two-year government jobs boom since 2008.
Perhaps more alarming is that 2024 saw government jobs grow faster than the private sector, continuing a trend set in Hobbs’ first year.
This marks back-to-back years of government outperforming the private sector for the first time since 2007-2009 and only the third occurrence in the last 25 years. Whereas the previous two instances occurred in the midst of national recessions, under Katie Hobbs government jobs exploded to their highest level ever while the national economy was stable. Had private sector jobs grown at the same pace as government jobs under Katie Hobbs, Arizona would have 32,000 more private sector jobs and a nearly one-point lower unemployment rate.
Katie Hobbs focused her State of the State on “the Arizona Promise,” while misleading about her jobs record. If the Arizona Promise means that “everyday people can find opportunity, security and freedom,” and “through hard work and perseverance, you can build a good life for yourself and your family,” as Hobbs said, then her policies must ensure that all Arizonans prosper, not just those who work for government. That prosperity will only come by embracing free enterprise and unleashing the potential of all Arizonans to participate in the economy and take control of their own livelihood as consumers and even business owners themselves.
[1] Hobbs has used this peculiar phrasing in the past, and it’s still unclear what she means by we or what role she thinks she had in the creation of jobs in the state, since government (generally) can’t create jobs.
In case you missed it, a new article in the Washington Times highlights a comprehensive report from Citizens For Free Enterprise Action and State Armor, “Threat Assessment: The CCP Threat and How State Leaders Can Protect Our Country and Citizens”. The report details how the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to subvert the United States through state and local influence opperations. The report also presents actions state leaders can take to protect their citizens from CCP threats.
Below you will find excerpts from the article. The Threat Assessment can be viewed in its entirety here.
Washington Times: China taking aim at U.S. states for subversion, new report warns
Bill Gertz
1/29/2025
The People’s Republic of China is focused on subverting the United States through operations at the state and local level, and greater efforts are needed to counter the danger, according to a report made public Wednesday.
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Former Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, head of Citizens for Free Enterprise and author of one of the sections of the report, said state governors are becoming better educated about subversive Chinese activities and are working with their legislatures to meet the challenge.
“Our goal with ’Threat Assessment’ is to sound the alarm for state leaders and give them a playbook and tools so they can take action to protect their states from CCP threats,” Mr. Ducey said. “This is a drum that we intend to continue to beat.”
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Mr. Ducey, the former Arizona governor, said local officials need greater support and information from federal law enforcement and intelligence officials to neutralize Chinese operations that include offers of economic development.
“If the goal is to promote state economic development, there are far better ways to benefit your state and community than by acting as an unwitting participant in the [China’s] influence operations,” Mr. Ducey said.
Governors should develop strategies to bring back critical production in their states and attract foreign direct investment from trusted nations “that share our values and not adversaries that are trying to engineer our downfall,” he said.
Mr. Ducey was in office when in 2020 the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) agreed to spend $12 billion on a microchip plant in Arizona. they’ve punished some of these corporations that have made really poor, woke decisions.
ROSWELL, GA – Citizens for Free Enterprise released the following statement in response to Governor Kemp’s State of the State Address.
“Under Governor Kemp’s leadership, Georgia has become a national beacon for free enterprise and opportunity,” said Citizens for Free Enterprise Executive Director JP Twist. “Georgia has already been named the number one state to do business — and Governor Kemp’s tort reform would be a game changer, solidifying Georgia’s free enterprise reputation. Whether it’s cutting taxes, bringing new jobs to the state, or expanding opportunity for hardworking Georgians, one thing is clear: Georgia is open for business.”
PHOENIX, AZ – Citizens for Free Enterprise released the following statement in response to Governor Hobbs’ State of the State Address.
“Katie Hobbs delivered another State of the State speech that was short of ideas that truly embrace the spirit of free enterprise,” said Citizens for Free Enterprise Executive Director JP Twist. “Each year, it’s the same issues all over again. She said she would support small business, then she vetoed a bill to crack down on organized retail theft. She said she would address water, then she defunded WIFA. She said she would address housing, then she adopted a policy making it harder to build new homes. The reason why her third State of the State sounds so much like her first two is because she hasn’t made meaningful progress on the key issues facing Arizona.”
Citizens for Free Enterprise CEO and Former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Ambassador Robert O’Brien, former National Security Advisor for President Trump, today published an op-ed in Fox News detailing how state and local governments need to stand up to the rising threat posed by Communist China.
Below you will find excerpts from the article, which can be viewed in its entirety here.
Fox News: 4 ways American states and cities can meet the CCP threat to our way of life
Governor Doug Ducey and Ambassador Robert O’Brien
12/18/2024
With the 2024 elections behind us and power in Washington, DC determined, it’s time to turn our collective focus to the greatest external threat to the American way of life: Communist China. The sheer scale of the Chinese military and economy, as well as the unrelenting determination of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to displace American global leadership presents the United States with an enormous challenge. While much due attention is paid to Indo-Pacific flashpoints like Taiwan and the South China Sea, it is a mistake to underestimate the ongoing contest on our home soil where China seeks to undermine us from the bottom up as much as from the outside in.
While the federal government is the tip of the spear in our national defense, state and local governments have an important role in securing the homeland, increasing resilience against CCP efforts, and preparing for a future conflict that we hope never comes. In fact, following President Trump’s election in 2016, the CCP used a “subnational” engagement strategy to resist Trump’s federal agenda through states, a strategy that continued through Biden’s term.
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As National Security Advisor, Ambassador O’Brien was briefed daily on the malign domestic activities undertaken by the CCP. Shockingly, Governor Ducey, the two-term governor of Arizona, was never once briefed on the broad, systematic, and perilous state-level CCP operations that disrupt our domestic security. This disconnect must end. To thwart the CCP’s subnational pursuits, the organizations State Armor and Citizens for Free Enterprise Action developed a state threat assessment with help from nearly a dozen of the country’s leading security experts to provide state and local elected officials with a roadmap to protecting our interests.
There are four primary directions in which the CCP is infiltrating America at the state and local level. China is actively targeting our people and institutions, our economic and financial assets, our physical infrastructure and our critical supply chains. Each of these issues requires state-level solutions that complement federal policies.
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The CCP’s coordinated strategy to infiltrate and undermine U.S. society is not hypothetical, nor is its military threat to the free world. State and local officials must lead through this gathering storm by leveraging their unique authorities in our federal system to protect their states and municipalities. It is past time for CCP influence operations to be severed, states’ finances and supply chains to be protected, and land and critical infrastructure shielded from CCP control. If states fail to act, we will all be vulnerable to the grave harm the CCP is preparing to launch upon American interests and our democratic partners around the world.
Just before Thanksgiving and with all the votes finally counted, Arizona officials met to certify the state’s results from an election in which Arizonans chose free enterprise. From state ballot measures to local ballot measures to state legislative races, free enterprise notched key victories up and down the ballot. Although several positive ballot measures came up short, Arizonans made clear that the principles of free enterprise matter and rewarded candidates who support those principles. An outline of some of the key results is below.
Ballot Measures
Prop 312 – This crucial measure allowing property owners to apply for property tax refunds if a county or municipality fails to enforce nuisance laws passed with more than 58 percent of the vote statewide. As a result, Arizonans will be able to recover certain costs associated with unmitigated expenses related to homelessness, vandalism and property crime, and drug use. There are potentially billions of dollars at risk in lost property values if these laws go unenforced, and Arizonans recognized the importance of the rule of law and private property protections to our free enterprise system. This measure will hopefully cause local governments to embrace the rule of law and reconsider turning a blind eye to such nuisance crimes, which, in the aggregate, represent high stakes for Arizona.
Glendale Prop 499 – This initiated measure was rejected, for good reason, by more than 56 percent of Glendale voters who refused to impose a $20 per hour minimum wage for hospitality workers. The measure also would have imposed other standards and workplace restrictions for the industry. If passed, this extreme measure would have reduced Glendale’s GDP by hundreds of millions of dollars and put thousands of jobs at risk. The harms of extreme proposals like this one include reduced hours, lower eligibility for benefits and less consistent schedules for employees as well as higher prices and more confusion for customers. Separately, a statewide minimum wage measure failed to collect enough signatures to even make it on the ballot. In both cases, Arizonans saw through these proposals and rejected the harm they were being asked to enact.
Two other legislative referrals, Prop 138—which would have preserved the tipped wage credit and protected tipped workers from future harmful ballot measures—and Prop 315—which would have helped rein in state regulatory overreach—were both, unfortunately, part of a long slate of measures rejected by voters. Both proposals are worth additional consideration and may come up again in future legislative sessions.
When Georgians went to the polls last month, among the many races on the ballot was a measure crucial to Georgia’s small businesses that will increase Georgia’s personal property tax exemption from $7,500 to $20,000. Georgians overwhelmingly voted yes, with more than 64 percent supporting the measure to relieve some of the burden on small businesses in the state. The measure was referred to the ballot by Georgia’s General Assembly via HB 808, which passed with bipartisan support and was signed by Governor Brian Kemp in May.
Why this tax exemption matters to small businesses
There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the state of Georgia. In fact, more than 175 thousand businesses in Georgia have fewer than 20 employees, over 87 percent of Georgia’s total firms. These small firms employ more than 628,000 Georgians and pay out more than $28.6 billion in wages annually. These firms also face numerous other operating costs and taxes, including income taxes, real estate property taxes, and tangible personal property taxes. Most people are familiar with property taxes on real estate, paid by individual homeowners and businesses, and tangible personal property taxes are similar. These are taxes paid based on the value of non-real estate assets owned by the business, including office equipment, machinery, supplies, and furniture.
Unlike real estate property taxes, the government doesn’t value the asset itself and then send a bill, so businesses must go through the costly compliance process of calculating the value of every business asset and then paying the appropriate tax. For many small businesses, particularly those with minimal assets, the costs associated with calculating and paying the taxes may actually be higher than the taxes owed.
About half of the states, including Georgia, exempt all or some portion of tangible personal property from taxes. Georgia’s current exemption is more than 20 years old and dates back to a 2002 ballot referendum that was approved by more than 72 percent of voters. Prior to this year’s change, the state exempted up to $7,500 in assets, which was the second lowest amount of all the state exemptions. By increasing the exemption to $20,000, Georgia will be much closer to what other states exempt.
At a time when small businesses face significant uncertainty and 22 percent of small business owners say inflation is their top concern, this tax change will provide some much-needed relief to small businesses in the state.
Other Ballot Measures
Georgians also voted overwhelmingly for Constitutional Amendment 1, which allows for the implementation of a statewide homestead exemption. This will provide relief from rising property taxes for Georgia homeowners. Constitutional Amendment 2 also narrowly passed and will create a new state court specifically with jurisdiction over tax issues. Both amendments were also referred to ballot by the legislature.and the end of the year, it may be cause for alarm. Construction jobs dropped marginally this month but have largely rebounded after a series of poor monthly reports in the spring, and the industry is now slightly up in 2024.
Paid for jointly by Citizens for Free Enterprise and Citizens for Free Enterprise Action. Citizens for Free Enterprise and Citizens for Free Enterprise Action are separate and distinct organizations. Not paid for by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
