Expected increases in health-care jobs were slow to materialize last year, and there were few bright spots among the region's biggest employers as the post-recession slump lingered, judging from the results of the annual Star 200 survey.
Of Southern Arizona's top 200 employers, 91 companies reported adding jobs in 2010, including 76 that added at least 10 full-time-equivalent positions.
But the big employers continued to bleed jobs overall, and most gains were small.
Seventy-six employers reported cutting jobs, while 24 employers reported no change. The rest were new to the survey or their job changes weren't computed because of data issues.
In last year's Star 200, 133 companies reported fewer full-time jobs at the end of 2009 compared with the prior year, while just 65 reported increases.
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Among the 20 industry sectors listed in this year's Star 200, 10 posted job gains, though four sectors - automotive services, health care, manufacturing and research, and nonprofits and community services - had gains so small they were essentially flat.
Nine sectors posted overall job losses, while the aerospace-and-aircraft sector was flat after small gains by companies including Bombardier Aerospace were offset by losses at other firms.
Mining and agriculture staged a turnaround after taking the biggest hit in 2009 because of layoffs in the copper industry.
Star 200 employers in mining and agriculture added more than 1,000 jobs in 2010, an increase of 13.5 percent, as Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold added more than 800 jobs and Asarco LLC added another 140 as copper prices rallied.
Call centers, business services and staffing posted a 9 percent increase, as call centers operated by Afni Inc., Apac Customer Services and Convergys Corp. expanded. A 500-job drop at Citi's call-center operations would have offset those gains, but Citi is part of the financial-services sector because of its core banking business.
Among the biggest job losers, construction and contracting continued to shrink, losing 9 percent, while resorts lost nearly 6 percent, education dropped nearly 5 percent and real estate and financial services shed 4 percent.
Find the special Star 200 section inside the Classifieds in today's paper / inside
Contact Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at dwichner@azstarnet.com or 573-4181.
