Arizona ranks fourth in July job gains
Employment in Arizona is expanding faster now than in all but three states, based on year-over-year growth in July. Non-farm jobs are increasing more rapidly only in North Dakota, California and Oklahoma. Last year at this time, the Grand Canyon State ranked 35th. Arizona's year-over-year rate job of creation was 2.4 percent in July. Nationally, non-agricultural jobs increased by 1.4 percent in July over the prior year.
By Lee McPheters, editor, Economy@WPCarey
Employment in Arizona is expanding faster now than in all but three states, based on year-over-year job growth in July. Non-farm jobs are increasing more rapidly only in North Dakota, California, and Oklahoma. Last year at this time, the Grand Canyon State ranked 35th. Arizona's year-over-year pace of employment growth was 2.4 percent in July, as the state added 55,700 new jobs.
The monthly rankings are compiled by the W. P. Carey School of Business, based on analysis of data released by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The July rankings were computed from data available August 17, 2012. Figures are not seasonally adjusted.
State Job Growth in July 2012 vs. July 2011
| Rank | State | Percent change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source: W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, derived from U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | |||||||||||
| 1 | North Dakota | 6.9 | |||||||||
| 2 | California | 2.6 | |||||||||
| 3 | Oklahoma | 2.5 | |||||||||
| 4 | Arizona | 2.4 | |||||||||
| 5 | Indiana | 2.2 | |||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota | 2.1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Texas | 2.1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Louisiana | 2.1 | |||||||||
| 6 | Kentucky | 2.1 | |||||||||
| 10 | Utah | 2.0 | |||||||||
| 10 | Vermont | 2.0 | |||||||||
| 10 | Ohio | 2.0 | |||||||||
| United States | 1.4 | ||||||||||
Arizona's July employment increase was the fastest over-the-year job growth recorded so far this year. The state appears to be on track for annual growth in the two percent range, an improvement over the one percent gains of 2011. For all of 2011, Arizona ranked 23rd among the states. In 2010 Arizona ranked 49th for the year.
The most rapidly growing sector in Arizona in July was construction, up by 7.3 percent over the prior year, with 8,200 new jobs. The most new jobs were in the employment support services category, primarily temporary help positions, which increased by 10,800 over-the-year. Increases in temporary jobs are often thought to signal future gains in permanent positions over time.
According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, all non-agricultural jobs increased nationally by 1.4 percent in July compared to the prior year, while the number of new jobs in the U.S. rose by 1.8 million over-the-year.
With an employment increase of 2.6 percent, California moved into second place in the job growth derby, behind North Dakota, a state that has ranked first in the rate of job creation for 38 consecutive months. The Golden State added 362,200 jobs, more than any other state. Texas created the second greatest number of new jobs (226,800), followed by New York (114,500) and Ohio (101,200).
San Francisco Leads Major Metro Areas
Among the nation's largest metropolitan areas (more than one million workers), jobs grew most rapidly in the San Francisco ? Oakland ? Fremont area (3.5 percent) over-the-year in July, followed by Houston (3.2 percent) and Denver (3.0 percent) metro areas.
Area Job Growth in July
| Rank | Metro | Percent change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source: W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, derived from U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | |||||||||||
| 1 | San Francisco | 3.5 | |||||||||
| 2 | Houston | 3.2 | |||||||||
| 3 | Denver | 3.0 | |||||||||
| 4 | Phoenix | 2.9 | |||||||||
| 4 | Seattle | 2.9 | |||||||||
| 4 | San Diego | 2.9 | |||||||||
| 7 | Cincinnati | 2.8 | |||||||||
| 8 | Riverside | 2.3 | |||||||||
| 9 | Portland | 2.2 | |||||||||
| 9 | Boston | 2.2 | |||||||||
| United States | 1.4 | ||||||||||
Eight of the top ten fastest growing metro areas were from the Western region. Three Western metros (Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego), tied for fourth position, with growth of 2.9 percent, a pace double that of the nation as whole.
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