Arizona Job Market Among Hardest Hit In Recession

While Arizona's unemployment rate fell to 9.1 percent in September, it's still more than double the rate of where it was the Great Recession began four years ago.

Newly released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Arizona's unemployment rate rose from 3.8 percent in Sept. of 2007 to 9.1 percent last month. That gain of 5.3 percentage points ranks Arizona 42nd in the nation for the growth of its unemployment rate over that time -- meaning only seven states saw their unemployment rate rise more sharply.

Only 3.5 percent of North Dakota's workforce was unemployed last month. That's an increase of just 0.3 percentage points from the state's rate of 3.2 percent in September 2007, three months before the official start of the recession.

Every other state has experienced a jump in its unemployment rate of at least 1.1 percentage points during the past four years.

Nevada's unemployment rate soared from 4.8 percent in September 2007 to 13.4 percent last month, an increase of 8.6 percentage points that led the nation.

Four other states have suffered upward spikes of at least six points in their jobless rates. Alabama, California and Florida are all up 6.3 points in four years, while Idaho is up 6.0.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2011/10/24/arizona-job-market-among-hardest-hit.html