By Roland Murphy and Rebekah Morris for AZBEX
Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.1% in December, down from 4.7% in November, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.
The national rate decreased to 3.9% from 4.2%. In Dec. 2020, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.8%, and the national rate was 6.7%.
The state had a net gain of 3,088 non-farm jobs over the month and a gain of 84,735 year-over-year. “Month over month, Arizona total nonfarm employment increased by 15,000 jobs or 0.5%,” the report states. “Year over year, total nonfarm employment increased by 148,600 jobs or 5.1%.”
Trade, Transportation & Utilities saw the biggest gains with 5,600 over the month, followed by Professional and Business Services at 4,400. Construction gained 700. Losses were reported in Government (-2,800), Financial Activities (-700) and Natural Resources and Mining (-100)
All 11 sectors reported year-over-year job gains, led by Leisure & Hospitality with 44,400 jobs added, Professional and Business Services with 32,000, and Trade, Transportation & Utilities at 30,000. Construction added 4,600, while Natural Resources & Mining added 600.
The private sector gained 17,800 jobs overall for the month.
Construction Employment
Statewide construction employment totals 176,700 jobs, which increased by 700 from Nov. 2021 and 4,600 from Dec. 2020.
The Arizona Construction sector features three major segments: Buildings, Heavy, and Specialty Trades. There are currently 35,900 jobs in Buildings, which is down 800 from Nov. 2021 and up by 2,100 from Dec. 2020. Heavy Construction lost 100 over the month for a total of 20,100 and lost 600 over the year. Specialty Trades was gained 1,400 over the month for a total of 120700, and the segment gained 3,100 over the year.
Construction jobs in the Phoenix Metro Area (Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale) gained 700 over the month for a total of 137,400. The Dec. 2020 number was 133,500. Metro Tucson construction jobs dropped 100, for a total of 18,700 jobs for the month. The Dec. 2020 number was 18,500.
Yuma, Flagstaff, Prescott, Lake Havasu City-Kingman and Sierra Vista-Douglas combine Construction and Natural Resources jobs in reporting their job sector totals. Yuma was unchanged at 3,700, Flagstaff also stayed the same at 2,800. Prescott fell 100 to 7,100. Lake Havasu City-Kingman also lost 100 for a total of 4,400, and Sierra Vista-Douglas was unchanged for the month at 3,900.
Jobs Added, but is it Enough?
December 2021 marked a significant increase in YoY job growth for Arizona Construction. This is critically needed labor capacity for a market with roughly $4B in unmet project-level demand, as pointed out in the BEX 2022 Construction Activity Forecast Event (read the recap here). In fact, this month is the single largest YoY gain in construction jobs since February 2020, before COVID took hold of the market.
Demand for construction labor far exceeds supply. While the market is currently producing $18B in construction activity output, DATABEX data supports an added 30% of market capacity would be happily gobbled up by clients if only the labor, materials and permitting/plan review constraints were removed or reduced.