Arizona jobless rate drops a tad, to 8.2%

Arizona added 30,000 jobs in September, figures from the Department of Administration show. Most of those, however, were workers returning to jobs in public schools, community colleges and state universities.

But the state also added 5,200 jobs in the private sector. That puts private employment now 53,300 higher than a year ago, said Aruna Murthy, the department's director of economic analysis.

There was a steeper decline in the national unemployment rate. It went down 0.3 percentage points, to 7.8 percent.

However, that national trend appears to be largely a function of unemployed people finding part-time work- and therefore being counted as employed - rather than getting full-time jobs, Murthy said.

Big gainers in Arizona last month include the health-care industry, with a sharp hike in employment at medical offices.

Several sectors of the economy posted losses. Construction shed 1,200 jobs between August and September. Retail trade lost 1,600 jobs, apparently due to layoffs of temporary workers who were previously hired for the back-to-school shopping season, Murthy said.

Another area of the economy that is lagging is private-sector education. And that was even before this week's announcement by University of Phoenix that it is closing some sites and laying off workers.

Murthy said some of this is due to tighter federal regulations on student loans for private colleges.

"But the other side could be the economy's slightly improving, so the likelihood of you finding a job is greater than what you had two years ago. As the economy improves, generally people tend to want to go and work rather than go back to school," Murthy said.

Overall, Murthy said, the state's economy continues to improve at a decent pace.

She said that year-over-year job growth so far in 2012 is running above 2 percent. The last time the annual increase was running that high was in early 2007.

Unemployment rates*

Area September 2012 August 2012 September 2011

U.S. (seasonally adjusted) 7.8% 8.1% 9.0%

Arizona (seasonally adjusted) 8.2% 8.3% 9.4%

Cochise County 7.7% 8.2% 8.7%

Maricopa County 6.7% 7.2% 8.4%

Pima County 7.0% 7.6% 8.4%

Pinal County 8.3% 9.0% 10.3%

Santa Cruz County 17.7% 18.5% 19.4%

*Not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated Source: Arizona Department of Administration

NATIONAL ANGLE

WASHINGTON - Weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped 46,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the highest in four months. The increase represents a rebound from the previous week's sharp drop. Both swings were largely due to technical factors.

The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, rose slightly to 365,500, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. That is still a level consistent with modest hiring.

The Associated Press