An unexpected gain in construction jobs last month could be the harbinger of better economic times for Arizona.
New figures show the state's jobless rate dropped a tenth of a point last month, to 6 percent. That's still a full point higher than the national figure but there are signs of better times ahead. One is the construction industry. Overall it has regained only 54 percent of the jobs it had before the recession. However, Doug Walls of the Arizona Department of Administration said the industry added 1,600 jobs last month alone.
"Typically in November we're seeing minor job losses for construction," Walls said. "These gains were seen in building construction and specialty trade. We haven't seen an over-the-month gain in construction since 2005 for November."
Retail trade employment also increased by 11,600 jobs in November. That's not surprising as merchants gear up for the Christmas season.
But a closer look turned up some interesting anomalies. The number of people working in department stores last month was 2.4 percent less than the same time a year earlier. And shops selling clothing and accessories saw a 6.3 percent year-over-year drop in employment. Yet overall retail employment is up 2.5 percent from November 2014. Walls suggested the difference might be the shift in shopping habits from brick-and-mortar retailers to online.
"I think it is an economy in transition and not necessarily anything to do with the seasonal changes or the strength of the seasonal retail," he said.