Last month, Arizona’s Office of Economic Opportunity announced a big milestone; a 3.4% unemployment rate in May — the lowest unemployment rate for the state since at least 1976.
Arizona’s labor force is 3.74 million. 3.6 million of which are employed. This means that about 127,000 individuals are unemployed but are still considered in the workforce. It’s about 9,000 fewer unemployed adults compared to May of 2023.
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
Unemployment is subject to wild swings, with the most recent occurring during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns when the rate briefly spiked into double digits. The previous low was 3.5% in early 2007 — a year before the Great Recession, which saw a rising unemployment rate peak at 10.6%.
The low unemployment rate report also showed a net gain of 64,000 jobs in Arizona since May 2023. About half of the added jobs were in the Health Care and Social Services sector. One-fourth of the gains occurred in Trade, Transportation and Utilities — a category that includes warehouse jobs, a ballooning industry in Arizona.
Government and Private Education jobs made up another quarter of the gain. The two sectors that shed jobs were Information Technology and Leisure & Hospitality.
Six of Arizona’s seven tracked metros saw an increase in jobs from May 2023 to May 2024. The largest increase occurred in the Phoenix metro at 2.2%. Flagstaff was the only metro to lose jobs, registering a year-over-year decline of 0.3%.
