Ariz. jobless rate in March unchanged

Yuma County unemployment rate up slightly to 13.6%

PHOENIX — Arizona’s unemployment rate remained steady at 4.9 percent in March as the state’s economy added 12,300 nonfarm jobs, mostly in the leisure and hospitality sector.

The state’s March seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged from February, with a month-over-month increase of 9,171 people in the Arizona’s seasonally adjusted labor force.

State officials say leisure and hospitality was among eight sectors that added jobs in March as the sector’s workforce grew by 7,100.

The government sector was among three sectors that lost jobs as it shed 1,800 positions.

Yuma County’s unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percent higher than February, at 13.6 percent. The jobless rate for March 2017 was 13.3 percent.

The number of jobs reported in a separate survey of employers was unchanged from February to March, at 55,900, and slightly below March 2017’s number, which was 56,200.

Patrick Goetz, employer engagement officer for the Yuma County locations of the Arizona@ Work statewide workforce development network, said 1,806 job seekers visited them in March, while 201 new jobs were posted by 44 employers.

Both of these statistics are also just below March 2017 levels, when 216 jobs were posted by 49 employers, Goetz added.