Arizona’s September jobless rate of 4.7% is at its lowest in 10 years. A report from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) shows that Arizona’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate^* dropped to 4.7% in September, the lowest rate since 2007. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate^* for October went up 0.2% to 4.5%.

The 0.2% increase in the jobless rate came about as a result of 18,700 non-farming jobs that were added to the state economy in October, a number much lower than the 36,400 jobs added in September. The addition of non-farming jobs is also lower than the state’s monthly average. The year over year employment rate increased 1.2% with 32,000 more jobs in Arizona.

Arizona employers are adding jobs at a rate that continues to grow steadily but slowly. Eight out of 11 employment sectors have added jobs in the state. The business and professional services industry added 6,000 jobs to the Arizona economy while the leisure and hospitality industry added 5,000 jobs. Retail employment in Arizona reflected the weakest statistic with 800 fewer workers than in 2016. This comes at a time when brick and mortar retail stores work to keep pace with their online competitors. 

Doug Ducey, governor of Arizona, stated that the OEO report is “good news for hardworking Arizonans and good news for our economy.”

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* Seasonally adjusted job rate. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the “Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment change from month to month.” See https://www.bls.gov/cps/seasfaq.htm