And now to a story about another major effect our education system has on our state: business.

The BBC recently reported that financial jobs on Wall Street aren’t expanding the way they used to. Instead, companies in states like Texas and, yes, Arizona are seeing the rise in financial jobs.

In the last year or so, finance and insurance jobs here grew faster than any other state in the country, according to the BBC.

And our state’s education system — higher education and K-12 — plays a key role in that.

George Hammond, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at University of Arizona, says it’s true that we’ve seen strong job growth in the financial services industry in Arizona. That sector has added 30,000 jobs over the past 6 years — that’s a lot more growth than elsewhere in the country — including on Wall Street.

But he says the effect that education has had on that growth is split. Our higher education institutions have a pretty good record of keeping grads here in Arizona. But, he says, until our K-12 system is better off, it will hinder business growth here.

When we say financial sector jobs, what exactly does that mean — are these high-paying jobs? Or does this just mean more call centers are being built?

Well, both. But, overall, Hammond says, there are call center jobs included in these numbers, but, in general, they’re higher paying, career-type jobs, even though you’re not going to make as much here as you might in the Big Apple.