By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services/East Valley Tribune
Arizona’s unemployment rate for last month dipped below 8 percent last month, the first time that’s happened in four years.
New figures Thursday from the Arizona Department of Administration show the state added 22,700 jobs in November. That compares with the 10-year average of 16,900 for this time of year.
In fact, the last time Arizona’s November year-over-year job growth was this large was in 2005.
All that was enough to drop the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate by three-tenths of a point, to 7.8 percent. By comparison, the national jobless rate for November was 7.7 percent.
Arizona’s gain includes 11,600 jobs in the retail sector alone.
While retail employment generally picks up this time of year, the jump this time was significant according to Aruna Murthy, the agency’s director of economic analysis. There are 6,700 more Arizonans working in retail now than there were a year ago.
Murthy said that hiring portends a good season for retail sales, with the revenues from those further boosting the economy.
But the good news goes beyond just retail.
Also: Arizona population growth among the fastest in the nation
