Valorie Rice, Senior Business Information Specialist
Current data releases as of 29 October 2021
About 20.9 percent of employer businesses in Arizona were women-owned in 2019. This was the same percentage as found in the U.S. according to the Census Bureau’s 2020 Annual Business Survey released on October 28. The similarity did not end with the amount of businesses, as the type of women-owned businesses were also similar. The largest sectors for women-owned firms in both Arizona and the nation were health care and social assistance followed by professional, scientific and technical services. Veteran-owned businesses made up about 5.7 percent of all businesses in the U.S. and 6.0 percent in Arizona. The sectors with the most veteran-owned firms in Arizona were construction and professional, scientific and technical services. These were the top two in the U.S. as well, though with construction coming second instead of first. Hispanic-owned businesses made up a larger share of all businesses in Arizona at 8.1 percent than the U.S. at 6.0 percent.
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4 percent over the month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. Food and shelter prices contributed much to the overall index. The food index increased 0.9 percent with food at home rising 1.2 percent and food away from home increasing 0.5 percent. Energy prices were up 1.3 percent as gasoline increased 1.2 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent for the month, the smallest change it has had since February based on information provided in the October 13 Bureau of Labor Statistics release. The annual inflation rate for September was 5.4 percent.
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State personal consumption expenditures (PCE) were lower by 0.2 percent in 2020 for Arizona after rising 5.2 percent in 2019. This was similar to many states, which ranged from 1.2 percent in Idaho to -5.8 percent in the District of Columbia. Only four states (Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Arkansas) had an increase in PCE. Nationally, PCE decreased 2.6 percent compared to an increase of 3.7 percent in 2019. Expenditures on food services and accommodations, recreation services, and health care were leading contributors to the decrease nationally according to the October 8 Bureau of Economic Analysis release. Food services and accommodations was the largest contributor to decreases in 27 states and the District of Columbia as well as the second largest contributor in 11 states. The largest contributor to the decrease in Arizona was transportation services followed by recreation services and food services and accommodations.
Phoenix home price increases led the pack for a 27th consecutive month on the August S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. The year-over-year price increase for Phoenix was 33.3 percent for August. This was followed by San Diego at 26.2 percent and Tampa, which replaced Seattle as the metro area with the third highest price increase, at 25.9 percent. Nationally, home price increases had an annual gain of 19.8 percent, the same as it had been in the month previous. The 20-city composite posted a gain of 19.7 percent in August, down from 20.0 percent in July. Minneapolis had the smallest one-year increase in home prices for the month at 14.0 percent.
US real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter 2021 based on the advanced estimate released October 28 by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The release pointed out that personal consumption expenditures were lower than the previous quarter. Real GDP increased 6.7 percent in the second quarter and 6.3 percent in the first quarter.
The U.S. trade deficit moved up to $73.3 billion in August after decreasing in July. Both imports and exports were higher though the rise in imports was $4.0 billion over the previous month compared to an increase of $1.0 billion for exports. The goods deficit rose to $89.4 billion in August while the services surplus decreased to $16.2 billion. Year-to-date the deficit of goods and services was 33.7 percent higher than the same period in 2020 according to the joint Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis October 5 release.
Nonfarm job growth in Arizona was 5.1 percent year-over-year before seasonal adjustment in September. Once again, government had highest job gain over the month, though recorded job losses over the year. Information was the only sector besides government to have year-over-year job decreases based on the October 21 Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity report. September employment growth in Arizona metropolitan areas, not seasonally adjusted were: Yuma 6.3 percent, Phoenix 6.0 percent, Prescott 5.8 percent, Flagstaff 5.7 percent, Tucson 4.0 percent, Lake Havasu City-Kingman 3.7 percent, and Sierra Vista-Douglas 2.3 percent. Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September moved down to 5.7 percent, from 6.2 percent in August.
The U.S. added 194,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in September as reported in the Bureau of Labor Statistics October 8 Employment Situation. This is below the monthly job growth average of 561,000 so far this year. Leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and transportation and warehousing all had notable job gains, and of these four industries only transportation and warehousing is above its pre-pandemic level of February 2020. The unemployment rate for the U.S. lowered to 4.8 percent for September. The employment-population ratio was up slightly to 58.7 percent for the month, which was 2.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
Arizona was one of the states with the largest over-the-month decrease in state unemployment rates, moving down 0.5 percentage points. Rhode Island, with a decrease of 0.6 percentage points, had the largest drop in unemployment rates for the month according to the State Employment and Unemployment October 22 release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At 5.7 percent, Arizona was still above the national rate of 4.8 percent. The lowest unemployment rates for September were Nebraska at 2.0 percent (a series low) and Utah at 2.4 percent. California and Nevada shared the distinction of having the highest jobless rate for the month at 7.5 percent each.
