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Business
The Peoria Chamber of Commerce Launches a New Committee Focused on Health and Wellness By Scot Andrews, President and CEO, Peoria Chamber of Commerce
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he Peoria Chamber of Commerce is focusing on the health and wellness space, and in partnership with local business expertise, working to improve the mind, body and spirit of Peoria residents and businesses to form a new Health and Wellness Committee. “We are at a moment in history when we have been faced with the reality that true health does not come from a pill bottle, nor from things that are done to us, but rather from our own commitment to our bodies, minds and spirits through our daily habits,” says Sheryl Iszler, owner of Trinity Chiropractic. The pandemic had an immense impact on all of our social norms. Add the mental frustrations of social distancing in the workplace, personal networks and community, and overall health was damaged. The Peoria Chamber of Commerce believes they can aid in this effort, partnering with their members in the health and wellness space to charter the new Health and Wellness Committee. Peoria Chamber member companies such as Sun Health, Trinity Chiropractic, Arrowhead and Lake Pleasant Fit Body Boot Camps, Valleywise Health, and Banner Health, to name a few, have joined together to define an agenda to focus on the most common health conditions
that impact locals. They seek to help the community maintain and improve their quality of life through healthy lifestyle choices. Interested companies are welcome to join, volunteer and contribute to this journey. By focusing on wellness services and support such as education, balance, mobility, nutrition, fitness, mental health, and weight management, a life can be improved. Kelly Sullens, owner of both Arrowhead and Lake Pleasant Fit Body Boot Camps, shares, “To build healthy lifestyle choices for the long run, we have to realize that it’s not just proper eating habits and physical activity that aid in making us healthy. We have to be mentally ready to make a change, too. It’s our mission to help open the minds of our community to be ready to make the simple changes that will lead to living happier, living healthier, and living longer, together.” Kelly will chair the formation of this new Health and Wellness Committee, build a team, and craft the initiatives and milestones that will impact the community to be healthier and more disciplined, one changed life at a time. The Peoria Chamber is always looking for thought leaders to serve on all of their committees to contribute ideas, create community, and business-based events to improve the quality of life in Peoria and surrounding cities. To learn more about the Peoria Chamber of Commerce and its new committee, visit peoriachamber. com or call 623-979-3601.
Greater Phoenix Adds Thousands of Jobs; Close to Pre-Pandemic Levels By Eric Jay Toll
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he Greater Phoenix metro area gained almost 10,000 jobs in March 2021 over February numbers in the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity latest report. The Phoenix workforce grew to 2.2 million in the 13 months since the coronavirus pandemic started. Year-over-year, the metro area workforce is still more than 50,000 jobs short of March 2020 numbers. The OEO data show the Greater Phoenix workforce about 97.6 percent of last year’s number for March. In February 2021, the metro area was at just over 96 percent of the prior year’s job numbers. In terms of numbers, most new jobs fell within the leisure and hospitality sectors, with 4,100 new hires in March, 2,400 in arts and entertainment alone, and another 1,700 in food services and drinking places sector. Construction hired an additional 2,700 more than Febru-
22 • June/July 2021 • UPPER WESTSIDER
ary, healthcare added 2,000, transportation and warehousing filled 1,800 positions, and manufacturing added 1,000 new jobs in March. These four industry sectors added over half the new Greater Phoenix jobs in month-over-month. In year-over-year comparisons, the transportation and warehousing sector added 16,000 new jobs, and healthcare services gained 6,500 jobs over last year. Professional, scientific and technical employment grew by 4,600 in year-over-year, and banking increased new hires by 3,900. Virtually all other industry sectors hired fewer than last year, with leisure and hospitality down by 34,100 workers compared to the previous year. The Phoenix metro’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 percent in March, down from 6.7 percent in February. Last year, while the pandemic started its impacts in March, the severe job losses didn’t occur until April. The unemployment rate in March 2020 for Greater Phoenix was 4.6 percent. myhyperlocalnews.com
