PHOENIX — Uncertainty will be Arizona's key challenge for the next few years, said Dennis Hoffman, a tenured professor and economist at Arizona State University.
The speakers at the ASU and PNC Bank Economic Forecast Luncheon on Nov. 12 agreed that volatile tariffs and immigration crackdowns have not yet fully reared their heads in the available data. National real gross domestic product growth is slow but steady, unemployment remains at a good level overall and though inflation is still above target, they said it isn't out of control.
But the lengthy government shutdown stalled economists' access to the latest figures; the White House announced Nov. 12 the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics would not release its jobs and inflation report for October. What's more, import duties have seesawed week by week.
The scholars said this makes it hard for economists to make predictions and companies to chart paths ahead.
