Arizona’s Unemployment Rate Rises

Submitted by Janet_Perez on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 4:02pm

losses in government employmentThe number of Arizonans without a job grew in December as the state’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.1 percent. Unemployment stood at 8.9 percent in November.

The Arizona Department of Commerce reports today in its Arizona Workforce Employment Report that the state lost a net 1,700 jobs in December. In December 2008, Arizona lost 19,600 jobs. In addition, while the economy is still losing jobs, the rate of loss has slowed over the last four months from -7.7 percent in August to -4.8 percent in December.

While the private sector gained jobs for the third month in a row in December, those additions were canceled out by losses in government employment. The private sector added 3,000 jobs, while government shed 4,700 positions. Most of the government job losses were in state and local public education, which were mostly attributed to seasonal factors.

December job gains in Arizona were made in trade, transportation, and utilities (+4,400); educational and health services (+1,800); and financial activities (+1,000). Professional and business services were flat. Posting losses were construction (-2,300); manufacturing (-700); other services (-700); information (-300); natural resources and mining (-100); and leisure and hospitality (-100).

Around the state, only the Tucson and Yuma metro areas saw increases in unemployment:

 Phoenix Metro: 8.4%

 Tucson Metro: 8.1%

 Yuma Metro: 24.4%

 Flagstaff Metro: 8.2%

 Prescott Metro: 9.3%

 LHC‐Kingman Metro: 9.8% 

I am totally agreed with

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 2:55am.
I am totally agreed with Rohit about his comments on Unemployment rate. Actually Global recession did not hit only one country but it is all over the world. And we can overcome this by taking positive steps and creating job opportunities for people. But to create job for new persons or even experienced ones need a lot of effort and for this government and private sector should come forward and sit and think positively. People should be careful when going for interviews and give proper answers of their interview questions as they know that job is hard to get in recession.

This is just sad. With

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 12:24am.
This is just sad. With today's economy, however, unemployment is indeed inevitable. I don't know how much more we can take. Is there really hope left? Ebook Template

Continued increase in

Submitted by Rohit on Thu, 01/28/2010 - 10:19pm.
Continued increase in unemployment rate has to be stopped. Government should take the lead in the aspect of creating more job opportunities.We need to boost employment opportunities. Remember it’s been a year that we had been hit by global recession and we are hoping this year we can fill up the gap left due to the mass laid off. The number of jobless has to decrease, as that means more people would be making and thus spending money – and the government gave out payday loans to Wall Street to affect that, though the results are mixed, at best. There are two ways to tell if more people are employed – one is tax returns, the other is the number of people filing for unemployment benefits, and they are decreasing. The number

Continued increase in...

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 1:01pm.
"continued increase in unemployment has to be stopped. Government should take the lead [...]". With all due respect, that is exactly the way of thinking which got us in this mess to begin with. Increase in Government employment is not an answer, as this would mean that those who are working in industry need to pay more taxes to sustain the new jobs ... counterproductive, isn't it? The best thing the Government can do, other than staying out of the way (no new regulations or Government stimuli), is to make it more attractive for businesses to stay and find their home in Arizona. This can be done in the way of reducing taxes, reducing regulation, and any other government created obstacles to doing business in Arizona. This in turn leads to more jobs that actually produce and stimulate the economy.