PHOENIX -- The temperature is above 100 degrees, yet construction crews are busy at work on just about every corner of this city's downtown.
The convention center is being expanded, a light-rail system is coming and several hotels are sprouting up alongside new offices and retail space.
"I really don't see construction slowing down in the foreseeable future," said Troy Hoberg, director of business development at Hunt Construction Group Inc., which built the $400 million downtown stadium for the Arizona Cardinals and is now working on the $600 million convention-center expansion. "We've been so busy we're having trouble finding enough workers."
The volume of commercial construction in Phoenix may help shed some light on a question that has puzzled regional economists: Why do some cities mired in a housing bust continue to enjoy strong economic growth? In Phoenix, the answer appears to be that commercial construction is helping to cushion the fall.
Phoenix led the nation's major employment markets in job growth during 2005 and 2006. But job growth slowed in the second quarter of 2007 to a 1.2% annualized rate, dipping below the national average of 1.3%.
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