Jobless rate rises though more working

A new unemployment report provides mixed news about the state of Arizona's economy.

The figures Thursday from the state Department of Commerce show the number of people with jobs rose 13,200 between September and October. Jack York, a senior economist with the agency, credited lots of seasonal hiring with the jump.

And York noted that this is a marked improvement over a year ago when few companies were bringing on staff for the Christmas season and to deal with the annual flocking of snowbirds to Arizona.

"So I think that's a very optimistic sign," he said.

But the seasonally adjusted jobless rate still rose by two-tenths of a point, to 9.3 percent in October.

"The number of jobs is increasing but not enough to give a job to everyone who's seeking one," York explained.

What all that means is that there is no sign that the Arizona economy has hit bottom. Frank Curtis, the agency's director of data systems, said that even with some companies picking up seasonal help, others continue to lay off people.

The result is that there were 177,600 fewer people working in Arizona last month than the same time a year earlier. That is a drop of 6.8 percent.

Another 2,100 jobs were lost between September and October in the construction industry, bringing year-over-year losses to 42,600. And the industry has lost 45 percent of its workers since its peak in June 2006.

Retail trade, linked to seasonal job growth, did pick up 2,600 workers between September and October. But employment levels here are 20,100 below the prior October.

Similarly, even in the leisure and hospitality industry, the addition of 2,600 jobs still leaves employment there down by nearly 9,000 from a year earlier.

Aside from retail and hospitality, York said there also was relatively strong month-over-month growth in the number of people in employment services. These are people who work temporary jobs.

Some of those may be seasonal. But York said some of those may be the result of companies, uncertain of the future, preferring to hire temporary workers rather than putting someone on their own payroll.

The figures show, though, the rate of job losses appears to be slowing. And Curtis noted that Arizona's 0.2-point jump is half the 0.4-point jump in the national rate, which hit 10.2 percent last month.