Expanded version of letter sent to the Arizona Republic
Why is the jobless rate lower here?
Rob Robb asks this pertinent question in a March 25 column.
His argument is largely based on comparing metro area unemployment figures and finding that we in Phoenix and Arizona as a whole are faring better than the country as a whole, with unemployment rates of 6.7 percent for Phoenix (for January), 7.4 percent for Arizona (for February) compared to a national rate of 8.1 percent (for Febuary). In addition, he indicates that “construction employment in Arizona also peaked in June 2006. Since then, Arizona has lost 88,000 construction jobs, a decline of 36 percent from the peak. Nationally, construction jobs declined by 13 percent. Construction represented two-thirds of all jobs lost in Arizona. Outside of construction, the job loss in Arizona was less than two percent.” Bottom line compared to San Diego, Seattle, Portland and other places, we’re not doing so bad…so what’s the big fuss about our economy being too tied to construction?
It’s a great question, but the wrong data and the wrong conclusion. Read the rest of this entry »