by Valorie H. Rice
Senior Specialist, Business Information
Arizona job growth was 3.0% over the year in September. This remained far above U.S. growth of 1.7% according to the October 18 Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity release. Construction had the most job gains over the year followed closely by professional and business services. Other services was the only industry reporting a decrease in jobs. Arizona’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.7% for September. Employment growth for Arizona metro areas in September: Flagstaff 4.2%, Phoenix 3.8%, Lake Havasu City-Kingman 3.0%, Tucson 2.4%, Prescott 2.0%, Yuma 0.6%, and Sierra Vista-Douglas 0.0%.
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.1% in September, seasonally adjusted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics October 11 release indicated that shelter was the major reason for the increase in prices over the month. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1% for the second month in a row. The annual inflation rate went up 2.3% in September.
There were 1,245 bankruptcy filings in Arizona during September, which was 286 less than the month before but 1.5% more than the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, bankruptcies are up 3.0% in the state with filings increasing 1.5% for the Phoenix office, 6.6% for the Tucson office and 7.2% for the Yuma office. The Phoenix office includes Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Navajo, and Yavapai counties. The Tucson office handles Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties, while the Yuma office represents La Paz, Mohave, and Yuma counties.
U.S. total nonfarm employment increased by 134,000 in September according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation release of October 5. July and August employment numbers had upward revisions and considering those revisions, job growth averaged 190,000 over the last three months. Industries with the highest over-the-month growth were professional and business services followed by heath care and transportation and warehousing. The unemployment rate for the U.S. decreased to 3.7%.
The U.S. trade deficit continued to rise in August, reaching $53.2 billion. Exports dropped $1.7 billion to $209.4 billion for the month while imports rose $1.5 billion to $262.7 billion. The year-to-date deficit of goods and services was 8.6% higher than the same period a year ago according to the October 5 joint release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau.
Home prices in Phoenix increased 7.5% over the year in July. The 20-city composite rose 5.9% over the year while prices rose 6.0% nationally, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices released September 25. Las Vegas remained the top spot for house price gains with 13.7% followed by Seattle at 12.1% and San Francisco at 10.8%. At the other end of the spectrum, home prices increased just 2.7% in Washington, D.C. and 3.0% in Chicago.
Arizona state personal income or the second quarter 2018 increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.8%. This was less than the national increase of 4.2%, according to the September 25 Bureau of Economic Analysis release.
