Find a Job

Arizona's May 2012 unemployment rate was reported by the U.S. Department of Labor at 8.2%. This is the same rate as May 2012 and continues a pattern in Arizona of no monthly rate increases in 2012. However, though the rate remained the same the actual number of unemployed workers did (slightly) increase for the month as did the number of employed individuals and the number in the total civilian workforce for Arizona.

If we compare to 1 year ago the current 8.2% unemployment rate is significantly better than the May 2011 rate of 9.6%. The 1.4% yearly improvement resulted in almost 44,000 fewer unemployed workers in AZ. Also, compared to a year ago, the number of employed people in AZ has also increased by over 23,000 while the total civilian workforce has decreased by around 20,000. The combination of these numbers arrives at our (dramatic) 1.4% decrease in the AZ unemployment rate over the past year.

Compared to the national average, Arizona's May 2012 unemployment rate matches the national average at 8.2%. A small difference is while the national average went up from May (by 0.1%), Arizona's rate remained flat for the month.

Arizona's business sectors that experienced positive employment numbers for May 2012 included Construction, Professional and Business Services, Mining & Logging, Financial Activities, and Manufacturing. Additionally, some sectors's employment numbers decreased including Leisure & Hospitality, Other Services, and Information.

Though Arizona's May 2012 unemployment rate remained flat, all the Arizona cities reported on by the DOL experienced higher unemployment rates for May (over April). The City of Phoenix's unemployment rate rose to 7.2% for the month. The City of Prescott AZ also for May rose to 8.5%. Lake Havasu City broke it's 2012 downward patter by increasing from 8.8% (April) to 9.5% (May). The Flagstaff area rose from 7.3% to 7.7% for May. The city of Tuscon also rose from 6.6% to 7.2%. On the (very) high end, the City of Yuma, already with the worst metropolitan area unemployment rate in Arizona saw it's April rate of 26% for April rise to 28.9% for May 2012.

Looking at the unemployment rates for Arizona's neighboring states, we see that Arizona's 8.2% May rate continues to be about in the middle. Both the States of California (10.8%) and Nevada (10.6%) have much higher rates. However, the States of Colorado (8.1%), Utah (6.0%), New Mexico (6.7%) all have lower rates for the month.

Be sure to check back when we review Arizona's June 2012 unemployment numbers. As always, please be aware that previously published employment statistics can be updated the Department of Labor and impact the numbers in this article