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US unemployment rate rises to 3.7%, economy continues to add jobs

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PHOENIX — According to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department, the U.S. added 315,000 jobs in August.

The unemployment rate increased slightly from 3.5% in July to 3.7%.

This jobs report crosses a long-awaited milestone for US employment; there are now more Americans on payroll than there were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last jobs report before the pandemic showed the U.S. with an estimated 152.5 million non-Farm payroll jobs.

The number then plummeted to 130 million as businesses across the country closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, jobs have been on an upward trajectory and today’s jobs report show the U.S. now has an estimated 240,000 more Americans on payroll than before the pandemic.

The same pattern exists in Arizona job numbers.

In February of 2020, Arizona reached a high of over 3 million people employed, which dropped to 2.6 million in April.

Arizona’s job market recovered more rapidly than the U.S. as a whole and the state reached a “recovery” level for the job market in December of 2021.

A recent report from the Labor Department estimates that the state now has 87,000 more jobs than it did at the start of the pandemic.

Some industries in Arizona are faring better than others.

Of the 11 major industries tracked by the government, nine are now employing more people than before COVID-19.

The biggest job-gaining industry is trade, transportation, and utility jobs which are 56,000 over February 2020, a gain of over 10%.

Manufacturing jobs are above pre-pandemic levels by almost 7% with 12,000 jobs added.

The two industries employing fewer people than in February 2020 are government and mining.

Government jobs are down 12,000, a loss of 2.8% while mining, a much smaller industry in terms of employment, shed 1.6%, 200 jobs in real numbers.