Arizona's jobless rate dips slightly

PHOENIX — Arizona lost 48,600 jobs in January. And that’s good news.

The reason is that the state normally sheds employment after the Christmas season, but this year’s loss is less than the post-recession average of 51,300.

What that means is the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slid three-tenths of a point, to 5.6 percent. It remains higher than the 4.9 percent figure for the rest of the country, however.

Doug Walls, research administrator for the state Department of Administration, said the state’s overall long-term employment picture continues to improve.

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There were 83,200 more people working in the private sector in January than a year earlier. That is a 3.8 percent annual increase.

Retail trade employment is up 4 percent year over year, with a 5.5 percent boost in people working in the financial sector, everything from selling insurance to making mortgages.

Bars and restaurants were employing 8,300 more people in January than the prior year.

Arizona’s latest seasonally adjusted employment hit 2.68 million in January. That is less than 4,000 below the prior adjusted employment peak in December 2007, before the recession. The state lost more than 313,000 jobs during the downturn.