by Valorie H. Rice
Senior Specialist, Business Information
Current data releases as of 18 January 2019
Bankruptcies increased in Arizona for the second year in a row. Arizona bankruptcy filings were 3.0% higher in 2018 following a 4.3% rise in 2017. The majority of bankruptcies in 2018 were in business liquidation (which grew 2.7%) and individual debt adjustment (grew 5.5%). All three offices had increases in filings, Phoenix with 2.1%, Tucson 4.6%, and Yuma 8.0%. 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.
Arizona employment growth was 3.3% in December year-over-year. All sectors reported over-the-year gains in employment with construction having largest boost in job numbers followed by professional and business services. Arizona metros rounded out the year with strong seasonally adjusted growth rates: Phoenix 3.7%, Lake Havasu City-Kingman 3.2%, Prescott 2.8%, Flagstaff 2.5%, Tucson 2.4%, Yuma 1.8%, and Sierra Vista-Douglas 0.6%. The January 17 release from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity indicated the state’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.8% in December compared to 4.7% in November.
After holding steady in November, the Consumer Price Index declined 0.1% in December on a seasonally adjusted basis according to the January 11 Bureau of Labor Statistics release. Falling gasoline prices were the primary reason for a sharp decline in the energy index (-7.5%), which overshadowed increases elsewhere. The food index increased 0.4% for the month and all items minus food and energy rose 0.2%. The annual inflation rate was 1.9% for December.
The U.S. added 312,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in December. Employment gains averaged 254,000 per month over the last three months after upward revisions to October and November employment figures according to the January 4 Bureau of Labor Statistics release. Health care, food services and drinking places, construction, manufacturing, and retail trade all added jobs over the month. Average hourly earnings increased 3.2% over-the-year in December. The U.S. unemployment rate moved up to 3.9%.
Phoenix house prices gained 7.7% over-the-year in October, enough to place it among the top three metro areas in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, just below Las Vegas with a 12.8% increase and San Francisco at 7.9%. Phoenix replaced Seattle, which along with Las Vegas and San Francisco have had among the largest increases in house prices for more than a year. House prices in the U.S. increased 5.5% over-the-year in October and the 20-city composite increased 5.0% according to the December 26 release.
Note: the U.S. Department of Labor had been funded through September 2019 prior to the partial government shutdown in late December. Because of that, the Bureau of Labor Statistics operated as usual and was able to adhere to the regular schedule for statistical releases. See the notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding federal data.
