Arizona Republic du lieu suivant : Phoenix, Arizona • Page 35

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC i i BUSINESS BROWSER, E2. MARKET SUMMARY, E5. NYSE, E6. NASDAQ, AM EX, E7. MUTUALS, E8.

TUESDAY MARCH 24, 1998 Ji7or, ft 444-4813 les.polkpni. com 3 aiw-1 Jlfei, Ttk. iaa-iSiilia SBBkAU-'' State fiims cry for help Compensation fund declares dividend TT 1 A ughi industry paces economy Survey takes pulse of county business By Jane Larson The Arizona Republic Small manufacturers may well be the hottest spot in the Valley's sizzling economy. SMALLBUSIHESS HOT SPOT FOR JOBS 1993 through 1997 was the strongest five-year period of job growth in Arizona history, with more than 400,000 private-sector jobs created. In December, Arizona's 4.58 percent job-growth rate was the second-highest in the nation.

Arizona's unemployment rate is consistently among the lowest in the nation and is at its lowest level since 1970. Arizona exports are at an all-time high. Expanding high-tech companies add $14 billion a year to Arizona's economy. Source: Arizona Department of Summit tackles No. 1 issue: Labor shortage By Ken Western The Arizona Republic Whether they serve hamburgers, build houses or make computer chips, a lot of Arizona companies are desperate to find workers.

"Help wanted" signs are a permanent fixture in many store and restaurant windows. High-tech companies are hanging banners with their telephone numbers from their buildings in a search for workers. Sunday newspapers are packed with employment ads. With Arizona's unemployment rate as low as 3.7 percent in recent months, this is one of the best markets ever for those looking for work or to change jobs. Strapped for 'workers, some companies say they are turning away business.

With the labor shortage on the minds of so many employers, a two-hour governor's summit will be held today at the Arizona Biltmore to explore the problems of finding and training workers. Rob SchumacherThe Arizona Republic Ultra Products President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Flores is expanding his Tempe creamer-processing plant by a third. Gov. Jane Hull is scheduled to meet with more than 50 corporate leaders and economic development officials at the invitation-only program. "Workforce development is the Number 1 issue facing employers, especially high-tech employers," Please see HELP, Page E2 They're hiring more workers and paying more overtime than the average small business, and their purchasing and expansion plans and forecasts of profitability are at record highs.

"I've been doing this 20 years, and I've never seen it this busy," said Bill Ankrom, vice president of the Western region for Methods West, a machine-tool sales and service company in Phoenix. Manufacturing's growth spurt shows up in the newly released BusinessTrack survey, the oldest and the only regular pulse-taking of small businesses in Maricopa County. It is based on interviews conducted in January with 400 BUSINESS SNAPSHOT Valley small-business owners and managers are asked for their views on their business' condition, finances, purchases and hiring twice a year. The latest results are based on a survey taken in January 1998. The basic figure represents 1990.

BUSINESS CONDITIONS COMPANY FINANCES l-tcn 4 I IIU9.II ILU.I Directors of the Arizona State Compensation Fund have declared a $75 million dividend for 1997, the largest ever for the 29-year-old workers' compensation fund. The amount includes a special dividend of $25 million. Strong operating results last year made the payments possible. The fund has paid more than $665 million in dividends to Arizona employers since 1969. It strives to provide workers' compensation insurance at the lowest cost and is the largest such carrier in the state, with more than 48,000 Arizona employers insured.

New plant to bring 70 jobs New York-based Royal Wood Home Products Inc. is opening a manufacturing facility in Phoenix, where it plans to hire 70 employees during the next year. The company's plant will be at 109 N. 35th Ave. Its average annual payroll at the site is expected to hit $1.52 million, or $22,000 per job.

"This is another wonderful example of a growing company taking advantage of the positive landscape and opportunities Phoenix has to offer," said Phoenix Councilman Doug Lingner of District 7, where the plant will go. Company wins ADOT deal Meadow Valley Corp. said it has been awarded an $1 1 million contract by the Arizona Department of Transportation to complete the interchange connecting the Pima and Red Mountain freeways. The project involves construction of five bridges, concrete paving and importing more than 500,000 cubic yards of earth fill. Construction will begin in mid-April and should be completed in about 18 months.

Phoenix-based Meadow Valley is a heavy construction contractor specializing in highway projects. Lender opens Phoenix unit Associates Home1 Equity Services Inc. has opened a regional office in Phoenix and hired 150 employees. The home lender's new office is at 14415 S. 50th Suite 100.

Associates Home Equity relocated its regional offices from Laguna Hills, Calif, to Phoenix. Walter Carter, executive vice president of the firm's Western di-r vision, said Associates Home Equity chose Phoenix because of its central location. Panel to discuss hotel A subcommittee of the Phoenix City Council will decide this week if the city should work with MLEM Properties to build a Marriott Fairfield Suites downtown. If approved, the developer would construct the hotel on a site bounded by Seventh and Ninth streets and Van Buren and Polk streets, excluding some vacant land Mesa taking owners and managers of Valley businesses with two to 99 WMM .) (4 120 rS XT 110 7 hit a aouDie New markets, increased out sourcing from big customers like Boeing Co. and AlliedSignal, and 200 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 Losing Penney's and its taxes orders from other up-and-coming sectors of the economy are boosting business for small manufac Basa 100 turers, company officials say.

They also cite big companies Base ,90 decisions to bring some work back to the United States, the overall strength of the U.S. economy and, in some cases, small Jan. Jul. Jan. Jul.

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Jul. Jan. Jul. Jan. '94 '94 '95 '95 '96 '96 '97 '97 '98 HIRING AND LAYOFFS PLANNED PURCHASING companies' expansion into the export market.

In addition, a long, slow penod 30 in the early '90s forced some Percentage of firms that have hired in players out of business and made the survivors more competitive, ie past six months. said Byron Smith, vice president of sales and marketing for Aero Design and Manufacturing in Phoenix. 'Because of those lean times, 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 when you had to do everything to improve, you gain the benefits By Glen Creno and Lisa Gonderinger The Arizona Republic Mesa will be dealt a double whammy when the JCPenney store at Tri-City Mall closes this summer. Not only will the city lose a major retailer that was one of the bright spots of an aging mall, but Penney will pass up another Mesa mall when it builds its replacement store. Penney confirmed Monday what had been rumored for months: It will close its Tri-City store Aug.

1. The company also said it will build its new East Valley store at Chandler Mall, a regional shopping center to be built by Westcor Partners, rather than anchor an expansion at Mesa's Fiesta Mall. Penney is Tri-City's only anchor, occupying 210,000 of the mall's 500,000 square feet. Jeff Gilbert, Penney's district manager in Phoenix, said the store was profitable and Penney wanted to keep it open, but the retailer was unwilling to sign the long-term lease the mall's owner insisted on. "Between the landlord and ourselves, we could not come to an agreement.

We had every intention of renewing some kind of extension," Gilbert said. "That's the downside to the market. The other side is we are going full bore on Chandler Mall." Tri-City's owners aren't necessarily looking at Penny's closing as devastating, even though it will follow another recent departure, a small Harkin's Theatres discount movie house that generated substantial foot traffic to the mall. "Actually, it means we can finally move forward with redevelopment plans," said Mike Didimin-ico, a vice president with Rubin which bought Tri-City two years ago with the hope of breathing new life into the property. Didiminico said he hadn't got official word on the departure.

That Penney's store has been a fixture in the city since at least World War II. It has been in downtown Mesa before becoming an original tenant in Tri-City in 1968. Penney has another store in Mesa, at Superstition Springs Center. "That's what is probably the biggest deal, if they do pass over Fiesta Mall," said Wayne Balmer, community development manager for Mesa. The departure also will hit the city's bottom line.

Dave Spaur, Mesa's economic development director, said Tri-City contributes Please see STORE, Page E10 20 15 10 Percentage -V I rm of firms with LLL layoffs in the 12 past six months. i when things improve," he said. Consumers, too, are behind the manufacturers' boom. Their new-found thirst for cof fee, cappucino and flavored Jan. Jul.

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Jan. '94 '94 '95 '95 '96 '96 '97 '97 '98 creamers has Ultra Products of Tempe expanding its creamer- Source: Behavior Research Center Inc. Please see SMALL, Page E2 Ansrv consumers fieht back Some 'just say no' to invasions of privacy along Seventh Street. The first phase would be a six-story, 123-unit hotel. A second phase of at least 100 rooms could be added later.

The developer has not asked for financial assistance from the city, but has asked for help acquiring the Economy Inn Hotel at 804 E. Van Buren. All acquisition costs would be reimbursed by the developer. The city staff is asking that Phoenix acquire two parcels to clear the way for the 4.5-acre Marriott project, even if the city would have to condemn the parcels. New cars rated safer THE SERIES Privacy in the digital age The latest in computer technology has made traditional notions of personal privacy obsolete.

In a three-part series, the Washington Post examines the growing use of "data mining," which can provide others a lode of information about you, your family, your finances and much more. Today's Part 3 looks at how some people fight to protect their privacy. battle cry of the war on drugs, could be the slogan for another emerging fight in American society over protecting personal information. As data become ever more easily amassed, stored and transferred electronically, many people view safeguarding it as a sort of "street smarts" for the 1990s. On the simple end, people are delisting phone numbers and oniitting their Social Security numbers from applications.

On the complicated end, they sort trash to protect credit card numbers of discarded receipts and scramble their electronic mail with encryption technology. Some people simply want to avoid dinnertime calls from pesky marketers. Others have a deep distrust of government and business, a fear that information ultimately will make its way to insurers or employers and be used against them. For privacy activist Janiori Goldman, Please see COftSUMOB, Page E4 By John Schwartz and Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post What finally sent Tom Meeks over the top this year was a birthday card he received inscribed, "Happy Birthday from your friends at Radio Shack." Meeks, of Kensington, had no friends at Radio Shack.

And it mystified him how the giant electronics chain even when his birthday was. "I felt this was an invasion of my privacy," he said in an interview. After a phone call to the company, Meeks discovered that Radio Shack bought his birth date and many others from an outside database and combined it with its mailing list of more than 147 million customers. Meeks complained in a letter to company President Leonard Roberts that the birthday card, offering a 10 percent discount, "thoroughly shocked and appalled me." Meeks is part of a grow ing army of angry consumers. "Just say no," once the Compiled from reports by The Arizona Republic.

To submit a news item to AZ Inc, call the Business desk at 444-8142, fax us at 444-4439 or send e-mail to repbizpni.com. rS Get business I news 24 I hours a day I 1 on Arizona Quality is better, testing group says By John Hughes Associated Press DETROIT The Consumer Reports annual auto issue finds that new cars are safer and higher quality, while used cars are more reliable. The issue, which hits newsstands next Tuesday, also has encouraging news on new car prices: They probably wwn't go up. The issue includes test results of 122 new cars and light trucks. It rates six of every 10 vehicles as "recommended" or "promising." In used cars, a survey of about 600,000 readers found that 25 percent reported problems with I-year-old vehicles.

That's down from 3 1 percent and 28 percent in the past two years. Automakers "are getting the word that consumers want reliable cars," said David Champion, director of Consumers Union's auto test department Domestic manufacturers are quickly catching up with foreign ones in quality, Champion said. The Oldsmobile Intrigue is one of the best new cars from General Please see CONSUMER, Page E2 central, me online service Of The Arizona Republic.You'0 find it at www.azcentr8l.combusiness METALS AND COMMODITIES: ONE DOLLAR EQUALS: N.T. IT. Tea Dollar 1.4194 Here AAA ft A 130.47 pSx 80.95C 33.UU pnnnA INTEREST RATES yonfjay Monday tt)Q Prime rate 8.50 8.25 6-month T-bills 4.99 5.33 Discount rate 5.03 5.25 10-year T-notes 5.61 6.70 Federal funds 5.50 5.47 30-year T-bonds 5.88 6.92 3-month T-bifl 5.03 5.26 Avg.

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