Arizona Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment
The graph below shows large declines in Arizona’s labor force and employment in January 2017. That results from new population controls implemented by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2022. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will revise this series once the U.S. Census Bureau releases updated intercensal population estimates for 2010-202
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Definitions:
Labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rate: the labor force counts persons in the population who are either working for pay or are actively looking for paid work during the most recent two weeks. For example, children, full-time students, retired persons, and persons at home caring for family are not counted as part of the official labor force. A person who was laid-off last month and applied for a job this week is counted as part of the labor force, as is some one who is currently engaged in paid employment. A person is only counted as unemployed if they are actively looking for paid work and can’t obtain it. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed divided by the labor force, that is the percent of the labor force unable to obtain employment. View our Arizona Unemployment Rate page for charts and detail for this important indicator. We also have a page which compares Arizona’s Unemployment Rate to other Western states.