Yuma County jobless rate jumps to 23.8%

State level remains steady at 5.1%

Arizona’s unemployment rate was stable for July, but Yuma County’s nonadjusted rate took another jump higher, to 23.8 percent, continuing the same summer spiral that’s been seen here for decades.

The county’s July unemployment rate is higher than June’s reported 20.5 percent, and July 2016’s, which was 22.5 percent.

Yuma County has a history of above-average and volatile jobless rates, and this year it has risen 11 points from a low of 12.8 percent in March.

“It’s a very complex issue. Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics can’t explain our unemployment phenomenon,” said Dr. Michelle Sims, an economics professor at

Arizona Western College.

Even so, the seasonality of the work force means “an increase from March 2017 through July 2017 is part of our normal pattern. Each year, we can expect our unemployment rate to peak around August/September and be the lowest around February/March. So it’s not alarming at all that we’ve had an increase from 12.8 percent in March to 23.8 percent in August,” she said.

Meanwhile, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained stuck at 5.1 percent in July, a figure now virtually unchanged for a year, even as the national jobless rate dropped a tenth of a point last month to 4.3 percent.

“Generally speaking, the unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of people who are unemployed by the number of people in the labor force,” Sims said.

“There are many factors that come into play: changes in the size of our local labor force, changes in the number of people who are unemployed and collecting unemployment benefits, and changes in the availability of jobs,”

But the state official responsible for reporting the data said Thursday there’s some good news in all that. And Doug Walls, research administrator for the Office of Economic Opportunity, said it doesn’t mean that this plateau is now the “new normal’’ for Arizona, a state that had unemployment rates below 4 percent just a decade ago.

On paper, the state shed 9,400 private sector jobs between June and July. But that is not unusual for this time of year.

Private businesses are reporting employment levels 41,400 jobs higher now than at the same time last year. That is a relatively tepid 1.8 percent growth rate.

But Walls said a separate household survey found that the number of people now in the workforce, whether full or part time, is about 72,000 more than a year ago. He said that shows that the Arizona economy is able to absorb all those people who want jobs, whether those who just moved here or other “discouraged’’ workers who until now had not been looking.

Eight of the 11 sectors of the economy grew in the past 12 months.

The biggest growth, though, came in jobs in leisure and hospitality. That largely includes restaurants, hotels and bars. Employers there added 16,600 jobs, enough to post a robust 5.5 percent growth rate. But these, as a whole, tend to be among the lowest paid jobs.

By contrast, the manufacturing industry with its higher-paying jobs, added only 4,000 jobs in the past 12 months.

There were, however, some gains in private education and health services with an 11,000 year-overyear increase, and 6,000 in the financial services sector. Both segments of the economy tend to have jobs that pay above the state average.

One statistic of note is that Arizona posted a yearover-year wage growth of 6.9 percent. That compares with 3.3 percent nationally.

Walls said some of that might be attributed to Proposition 206, which raised the minimum wage, but it may also be that the demand for workers in the leisure and hospitality industry is forcing employers to pay more to attract applicants.

Private businesses in Yuma County reported a 1.5 percent drop in total positions, or about 800 jobs, month-over-month for July. Yet, as has happened in previous months, it’s also shown the largest percentage-based yearover-year job growth in the entire state.

The report showed that from July 2016 to July 2017, businesses added 2,000 jobs were added for a 3.9 percent gain, contradicting the fact the unemployment rate was higher last month than in July 2016. The next highest percentage-based gain was 2.2 percent for the Phoenix metro area, which includes Maricopa and Pinal counties.

Patrick Goetz, business services officer for Arizona@Work, said July’s activity at the three Yuma County work centers was at about the same level as in June, with 155 jobs posted by 39 employers, and 3,205 people coming in to seek some sort of job hunting assistance.

He said it’s not clear yet how this week’s announcement that up to 130 Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants will be closed nationwide will affect the local scene. But he also pointed to an advertisement published in the Yuma Sun employment section Aug. 6.

The ad, sponsored by Arizona@Work, Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation and Goodwill Industries, seeks job applications for a new food processing facility to be owned by an unnamed Fortune 500 company.

“Due to the highly competitive food processing industry, the company’s identity will remain confidential at this time to ensure market success,” it states.

Goetz said Arizona@ Work is getting those resumes now. “These are high-end jobs, plant managers, engineers... it’s all good,” he said.

But he also pointed to an advertisement published in the Yuma Sun employment section Aug. 6. The ad, sponsored by Arizona@Work, Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation and Goodwill Industries, seeks job applications for a new food processing facility to be owned by an unnamed Fortune 500 company.