Arizona Posted Solid Job Gains in April
By George W. Hammond, EBRC director and Eller research professor
Over-the-year growth remained weak
Arizona added 14,200 seasonally-adjusted nonfarm payroll jobs over the month in April. March job gains were revised down to 9,700, from 11,400 in the preliminary data. The state seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in April. That was slightly below the U.S. rate of 4.2%.
Over-the-month job gains were driven by private education and health services (up 6,100); trade, transportation, and utilities (up 5,300); construction (up 1,600); and other services (up 1,400). Other sectors adding jobs included financial activities (up 400); information (up 300); natural resources and mining (up 200); and professional and business services (up 100).
Leisure and hospitality jobs declined by 500 in April, as did manufacturing employment. Government jobs declined by 200.
Over the year, Arizona added 18,100 non-seasonally adjusted jobs in April, for 0.6% growth. As Exhibit 1 shows, most of that growth was in private education and health services. Other services; construction; natural resources and mining; government; leisure and hospitality; and financial activities also added jobs.
In contrast, trade, transportation, and utilities; professional and business services; manufacturing; and information lost jobs.
Exhibit 1: Arizona Net Job Change (Thousands) and 2023 Annual Wages per Worker
Year to date through April, Arizona jobs were down 7,300 from the same period of 2024, which translated into a decline of 0.2%.
Phoenix MSA jobs were up 15,100 over the year in April, for 0.6% growth. The pattern of job gains and losses was similar to the state. Phoenix accounted for 83.4% of state gains in April.
Year to date through April, Phoenix MSA jobs were down 2,400 or 0.1%.
Tucson MSA jobs were also up over the year in April, with an increase of 300 jobs or 0.1%. Tucson accounted for 1.7% of state job gains. Like the state and Phoenix, job gains were powered by private education and health services. Manufacturing; trade, transportation, and utilities; and government jobs were down significantly.
Year to date through April, Tucson MSA jobs were down 3,900 or 1.0%.
Prescott MSA jobs declined by 1,000 over the year in April, which translated into a decline of 1.4%. Job losses were concentrated in trade, transportation and utilities; leisure and hospitality; professional and business services; manufacturing; and mining and construction.
Year to date through April, Prescott MSA jobs were down 1,000 or 1.4%.
Overall, it’s been a slow start to the year for Arizona job growth, but that is partly due to the strangely high level of jobs at the beginning of 2024, which gave way to lower employment levels as we went through the spring and summer months. That pattern suggests that we will continue to see positive over-the-year growth rates as we go through the spring and summer months this year. It also suggests that unless that growth is very strong, we will see fairly soft annual average job growth this year.
