By Ronald J. Hansen | The Republic
Arizona employers had their weakest November for job gains in eight years, suggesting a slow start to the holiday shopping season.
At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate dipped to 5 percent for the first time since March 2008. That’s far better than the 5.9 percent jobless rate in the same period last year, but job growth appears to have slowed in recent months. Nationally, the jobless rate is 4.6 percent.