Jeff Fuentes Gleghorn
Arizona started this year with a lower-than-average unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, compared to the 4.0 percent nationwide rate. In April, Arizona’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent, the state’s lowest recorded rate since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began collecting this data in 1976.
As summer ended, unemployment in the Grand Canyon State rose slightly, going to 3.5 percent in August and 3.7 percent in September. Even so, this is the longest time that Arizona’s unemployment rate has been below 4 percent on record, and unemployment remains well below the pre-pandemic rate. Manufacturing jobs have grown the fastest in Arizona over the last 12 months, with the financial sector being the only non-farm industry to lose jobs over the same time frame.
