The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose for the second straight week, with applications increased by 12,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 294,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Despite the increase, the Labor Department says that this number is quite low and the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains unchanged for the month of March, at 5.5%.
Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point from 6.5% in February to 6.2% in March. A year ago, the Arizona seasonally adjusted rate was 7.0% and the U.S. rate was 6.6%.
Arizona added 5,600 Nonfarm jobs (0.2%) over the month in March. This was less than half the ten-year (’05-’14) average job gain of 11,400 jobs and post-recession (’10-’14) average of 12,700 jobs. The Private Sector gained 6,100 jobs, significantly below the post-recession (’10-’14) average gain of 13,500 jobs. Government lost 500 jobs this March, slightly below the historic ten-year (’05-’14) average loss as well as the post-recession (’10-’14) average loss of 800 jobs. Seven of the eleven major sectors added jobs and four reported losses over the month in March.
Arizona added 5,600 Nonfarm jobs (0.2%) over the month in March. This was less than half the ten-year (’05-’14) average job gain of 11,400 jobs and post-recession (’10-’14) average of 12,700 jobs. The Private Sector gained 6,100 jobs, significantly below the post-recession (’10-’14) average gain of 13,500 jobs and the historic ten-year (’05-’14) average gain of 12,200 jobs. Government lost 500 jobs this March, slightly below the Historic ten-year (’05-’14) average loss as well as post-recession (’10-’14) average loss of 800 jobs.
Seven of the eleven major sectors added jobs and four reported losses over the month in March. Leisure and Hospitality reported the largest gain (5,400 jobs). Gains in Leisure and Hospitality were below the post-recessionary (’10-’14) average March gain of 6,300 jobs. Gains in Education and Health Services of 1,000 jobs (0.3%), were also below the ten-year (’05-’14) average of 1,600 jobs and slightly below the post-recessionary (’10-’14) average of 1,200 jobs. Gains in Trade, Transportation and Utilities of 900 jobs (0.2%), were slightly below the historic ten-year (’05-’14) average again of 1,000 jobs. Construction added 700 jobs over the month, half the ten-year (’05-’14) average gain of 1,400 jobs. Financial Services gained 300 jobs, on par with the historic ten-year (’05-’14) average for March.
Government (-500 jobs), Manufacturing (-400 jobs) and Natural Resources and Mining (-200 jobs) all posted losses. Professional and Business Services reported the largest loss of 2,600 jobs (-0.7%) primarily from losses in Employment Services (-2,300 jobs). Services to Buildings and Dwellings also lost 500 jobs.
Over the year, Arizona’s Nonfarm employment increased by 66,700 jobs (2.6%) in March. The Private Sector accounted for most of the gains (63,600 jobs) with Government only adding 3,100 jobs over the year. Nine of the eleven major sectors reported job gains and two sectors reported job losses. Education and Health Services reported the largest gain of 15,100 jobs. The majority of these were reported in Health Care and Social Assistance which added 11,000 jobs. Professional and Business Services followed with a gain 13,700 jobs. Other sectors with job gains were Trade, Transportation and Utilities which added 11,800 jobs followed by Leisure and Hospitality (9,700 jobs), Other Services (7,200 jobs), Financial Activities (4,500 jobs), Government (3,100 jobs), Construction (1,900 jobs), and Information (600 jobs). Over the year job losses were observed in Natural Resources & Mining (400 jobs) and Manufacturing (500 jobs).
Get detailed information, graphs and charts on Arizona data at https://laborstats.az.gov/
For related story see https://realestatedaily-news.com/why-5-5-unemployment-isnt-as-great-as-it-seems/