Construction, retail slumps worsen state unemployment rate
By MIKE MARTINEZ
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Thursday, Oct. 16) _ Arizona’s unemployment rate rose to 5.9 percent in September as construction and retail continued to slump, the state Department of Commerce announced Thursday.
The state jobless rate, which climbed from 5.6 percent in August, stood at its highest point since July 2003. Unemployment was 3.8 percent in September 2007.
Jack York, an economist with the Commerce Department, said the unemployment rate may not improve until 2010.
Marshall J. Vest, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, said in a telephone interview that the U.S. is entering what might be its worst recession in nearly three decades.
“This may be the bleakest holiday season we’ve seen since ’81 and ’82,” Vest said. “The weak economy is causing consumers to retreat from buying.”
Construction, which shed 4,000 jobs in July, was been the biggest loser over the past year. The industry had dropped 38,600 jobs since September 2007, according to Department of Commerce figures.
At Tempe-based Sundt Inc., the 62nd-largest construction company in the United States, spokesman Charlie Boyd said some larger companies have been shielded from the downturn so far because of backlogged work. Sundt, he said, has enough jobs to keep its employees busy through 2009.
“Unfortunately, some of the smaller companies that rely on bidding for the lowest price for work are feeling the economic downturn right now,” Boyd said.
Boyd, who serves as Sundt’s corporate director of business development and marketing administration, said his company is redoubling efforts to find new work because it’s anticipating a slowdown beyond next year.
Retail dropped 4,400 jobs during September as consumers pared back spending. York said he’s forecasting more job losses in retail, which had shed 12,500 jobs since September 2007.
“Whether it will be horrible or not, we don’t know,” he said.
Food-service businesses dropped 1,500 jobs in September, while the professional and business services sector lost 1,100 jobs.
The news wasn’t all bad. The education and health services sector added 1,800 jobs during September, while mining added 100.
“Educational and health services are two sectors that will continue to grow year after year regardless of the economy,” Vest said.
The government sector added 16,600 jobs because of seasonal hiring in schools.
“Even though these sectors will grow at a slower pace in the near future, they will continue growing, and eventually the rest of the economy will respond as well,” Vest said.
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Web Link:
_ Arizona Department of Commerce: www.azcommerce.com