Arizona's unemployment rate went unchanged in May

Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged in May at 6.7% as overall employment increased by just 900 jobs from April.

New figures from the state Office of Economic Opportunity show the number of people employed last month did not keep up with the number of people out looking for work.

Doug Walls, the agency’s labor market information director, said the state continues its slow climb out of the effects of the pandemic-induced recession.

Overall, Arizona lost 331,500 job since February 2020. Of that, 247,200 have now been recovered, about 75%.

But the recovery remains inconsistent across the spectrum.

Jobs in trade, ranging from retail employees to warehouse workers and delivery drivers, actually are 39% higher now than they were before the recession.

By contrast, only 85% of the manufacturing jobs lost are back. And despite signs of life in the leisure and hospitality sector, including bars, restaurants and hotels, employment is at just 70% of where it was in February 2020.

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And construction employment also remains slow, with the state having only two-thirds of those employed in that sector now than before the recession.

Still, all of that is better than the rest of the nation where just 66% of the 22.3 million jobs lost are now back.

Walls said there are indications of better times ahead.

He said there has been a relatively steady increase in the number of permits taken out by developers for new housing units. In fact, there were 5,659 building permits authorized in April, the most recent month available, nearly double the figures from a year earlier.

Walls also pointed out that, on a national level, the “quit’’ rate is at its highest point in two decades. That figure tracks the number of people who voluntarily leave their jobs, whether for higher pay, better working conditions or to pursue a different career. Walls said that shows confidence by people that there are enough good jobs out there to let them give up what they already have.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a point in May, to 5.8%