PHOENIX โ The past week was a tough one for Arizonaโs economy.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. announced it is laying off a total of 600 workers, and Apollo Education Group is offering buyouts to 450.
Thatโs in addition to the 14 grocery stores operated by Fresh & Easy and Haggen that are being shuttered.
None of the moves will help Arizonaโs ongoing labor-market struggles.
Through September, Arizona has the fifth-worst seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the country, 6.3 percent. Only Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia have a worse number.
Looking at a broader measure that includes those who are underemployed, only Nevada has a higher rate than Arizonaโs 13.6 percent.
To put Arizonaโs sluggishness in some perspective, consider this:
- Over the past year San Francisco has added more jobs, 72,000, than Arizona, 56,000, even though San Francisco has 2 million fewer people.
- The Phoenix area is doing better than the state as a whole, but compared with other metro areas, it isnโt exactly roaring along, either.
The unemployment rate in metro Phoenix has noticeably improved over the past year, moving to 5.8 percent from 6.4 percent. The current rate ranks Phoenix 43rd out of 51 major markets.
And most metro areas of all sizes have made bigger strides in lowering their jobless rates. Phoenix ranks 287th among the nationโs 387 metros for its improvement. Sixty-one of the areas that saw smaller gains than Phoenix still had lower unemployment rates.
- Three of the metro areas that did worse than Phoenix were Tucson, Flagstaff and Yuma.
The economic picture is not all bad in Arizona.
For one, there are still jobs available, especially in fields such as health care.
Arizonaโs overall economic output grew 1.4 percent in 2014 after adjusting for inflation. That was near the midpoint of U.S. states.
And personal income has grown faster in Arizona than nationally, although incomes are significantly smaller here.
