Nonfarm Employment Up Over the Year by 0.5%; Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 9.7%

PHOENIX, AZ (October 21, 2010) — Arizona’s unemployment remained unchanged at 9.7% for September. The U.S. rate also remained unchanged at 9.6%.

Over the year, Total Nonfarm employment was up a modest 0.5% in September. The trend in over-the-year employment losses in Arizona slowed after June 2009 when the losses hit bottom at -8.4%. August 2010 numbers, which were revised from -0.1% to +0.3%, show the first gain following thirty consecutive months of over-the-year losses. In the month of September, five of eleven sectors were up over the year for a net gain of 11,700 jobs.

Over the month, Arizona added 16,000 jobs in September 2010, mostly from seasonal gains in public education as many of the schools began a new academic year. Nonfarm employment gains in September were below the ten-year (’00-’09) average, but were better than the previous two years.

The Private Sector had a net gain of 700 jobs. For the prior three years the Private Sector has lost jobs in September. Both, the Private Sector and Government gains were below their respective pre-recession ten-year (’98-’07) averages.

Get detailed information, graphs and charts on Arizona data at www.workforce.az.gov.

Media Contact

Nicole McTheny, Arizona Commerce Authority, (602) 845-1231, [email protected]

About the Arizona Commerce Authority

The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is the state’s leading economic development organization with a streamlined mission to grow and strengthen Arizona’s economy. The ACA uses a three-pronged approach to advance the overall economy: attract, expand, create – attract out-of-state companies to establish operations in Arizona; work with existing companies to expand their business in Arizona and beyond; and help entrepreneurs create new Arizona businesses in targeted industries. For more information, please visit azcommerce.com and follow the ACA on Twitter at @azcommerce.