PHOENIX — The state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate did not budge between August and September, staying at 6.3 percent as Arizona’s private employers added only 500 jobs.
Pima County’s unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in September from 6.1 percent in the prior month, on an unadjusted basis, according to the latest state report.
Overall, the state’s total employment month over month was up 28,800. But virtually all of these jobs were held by people who work for state universities, community colleges and public schools who are technically counted as “unemployed” over the summer.
That kept the overall jobless rate at 6.3 percent after climbing for three consecutive months.
Year-over-year private sector employment is up by 56,700, or 2.6 percent. But the gains — and in some cases, losses — are not evenly spread across the economy.
Among identified industry sectors, the biggest annual gain on a percentage basis was in construction, which grew by 6.1 percent.
That, however, comes on a base that still is less than 55 percent of what it was at pre-recession levels. By contrast, overall Arizona employment is close to 98 percent of the 2.68 million it hit in October 2007 before the recession and the real estate bubble burst.
Toward the other extreme, the state’s leisure and hospitality sector is fully recovered and even 6 percent higher than the last time it peaked before the recession, growing in the past year alone by 4.4 percent. And most of that was in employment at bars and restaurants.
But Paul Shannon, director of the state’s labor market division, insisted the fact that these kind of generally lower-paying jobs are growing in Arizona at a higher rate than other industry sectors does not necessarily mean the economy is unhealthy.
He said that, in general, about 30 percent of the jobs in any economy, state or national, are going to require college or higher-level training.
“That means the other 70 percent of those jobs are going to be jobs that require high school or less education,” Shannon said.
“So is it bad news that there are jobs for the 70 percent of the people that don’t have higher education?” he continued. “I’m not sure that is bad news for the people that are getting those jobs.”
But he had no answers when asked about the fact that the year-over-year numbers show that sector of the economy is not just keeping pace with the rest of the state but actually growing faster.
“I think we need to look at that for a longer period of time than what’s in this report here,” he said.
Elsewhere in the economy, the state’s manufacturers continue to shed employees.
That includes the loss of 500 jobs last month among firms that make computers and electronic parts, bringing employment in the past year down by 2,100.
The aerospace sector also remains weak, losing another 100 jobs in September and 500 since the same time last year.
Employment in trade is down 800 month over month, much of that driven by losses in jobs among motor-vehicle dealers.
The state also shed 900 jobs in health care, including 700 workers in doctors’ offices and clinics.
