ARIZONA
State foresees slight bump in non-farm jobs next year
PHOENIX - Arizona researchers are projecting a continued slowing in the loss of non-farm jobs in the state for the remainder of this year and a slight gain in employment in 2011, The Associated Press reports.
Arizona Department of Commerce officials say the state will see an estimated decrease of 50,300 jobs in 2010, or a loss of 2.1 percent. They say next year is projected to produce a gain of 23,100 non-farm jobs, or an increase of 1 percent.
TUCSON
Applied Energetics regains compliance with Nasdaq
Applied Energetics Inc., a Tucson-based developer of directed-energy systems, said Thursday that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market.
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Applied Energetics' stock has maintained a closing bid price at $1.00 per share or more for at least 10 consecutive trading days, as required by Nasdaq's listing rules, the company said. The stock closed Thursday at $1.45, up 17 cents.
AZ pump prices increasing; Tucson is still the lowest
Fuel prices are again on the rise. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Tucson is $2.81, up not quite a cent since last week, but still the state's lowest price, AAA Arizona said Thursday.
Last year at this time the Tucson average was $1.87 a gallon, AAA said.
The statewide average Thursday was $2.89, up a half-cent from last week. The nationwide average was $2.88, an increase of 2.2 cents.
"Pump prices are likely to shift upward, peaking in late May," said AAA Arizona public affairs director Linda Gorman. "Given current market factors, peak prices will likely hover in the low $3 range."
Ten states, including California, now hold averages higher than the $3 mark, AAA said.
Star employees to take temporary pay reduction
Arizona Daily Star employees will take a temporary pay reduction, equal to losing one week of pay, between May and October.
"The worst recession of our lifetime continues to test us in many ways," Star Publisher and Editor John M. Humenik said Thursday. "We are aggressively pursuing many initiatives to improve both revenue and operational efficiency."
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