Arizona’s job market is continuing to outshine national trends, managing to maintain a record-low unemployment rate of 3.3% in June, a marginal yet significant dip from May's figure. According to a report by the Office of Economic Opportunity, this marks the lowest unemployment the state has seen in 48 years. The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, saw a slight uptick to 4.1%.
Despite the drop in unemployment, Arizona did to quickly experience a decline of around 46,300 non-seasonally-adjusted jobs in the same month, predominantly due to seasonal reductions in the government sector, as stated by the Office of Economic Opportunity report. After seasonal adjustments, the month-over-month job decrease narrows down to about 1,900 positions lost. The reducing job count is a familiar occurrence around this time of year when school staffing contracts.
Comparing year-over-year data, Arizona's employment landscape appears more robust, adding 66,200 jobs since June of the previous year. Health Care and Social Assistance lead the state's burgeoning sectors, laying claim to nearly 40% of new jobs over the past twelve months. "The government and Trade, Transportation and Utilities sectors were the next biggest areas for growth," the report notes, each contributing roughly 20% of the new jobs.Employment in Arizona continues to scale upward with more than 3.6 million residents gainfully employed as of the last month. The labor force itself is burgeoning, running approximately 120,000 individuals higher than the employment numbers. These statistics paint a hopeful picture for the ongoing development and resilience of Arizona's economy amidst variable national economic conditions.
