Heavy Construction Best, Government Jobs Worst In Phoenix Market

PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity reported Friday that the Phoenix job market is growing overall, particularly in the construction sector, while the government job sector experienced significant losses.

The Phoenix job market grew by about 56,500 metro area jobs, in a comparison of October 2019 versus October 2018. Those jobs increased the number of employed Phoenix workers to 2.2 million, a 2.6 percent rise compared to 2018.

During the same timeframe, the construction sector saw the most gains, with a 7.6 percent hiring rise or 9,800 more jobs. Hiring for heavy construction workers rose by 16 percent, while jobs for building construction workers rose by 10 percent versus last year.

Real estate was the sector with the next highest growth rate, at a 7.2 percent increase in opportunities, followed by manufacturing at a 6 percent increase or 7,700 more jobs versus 2018.

The number of new health services jobs slowed to 9,500, which is still a 3.5 percent gain versus the previous year and more than the health sector’s national job growth rate.

The food services industry experienced a 3.1 percent rise in hiring with the addition of 5,300 jobs, while the financial sector showed a 1.4 percent increase in hiring with 2,800 new jobs. The financial sector’s small growth rate is its lowest growth rate since 2014. Meanwhile, banking hiring is down by 600 jobs versus 2018.

Government hiring took the largest hit, with hiring falling by 1,400 workers. Local government education and federal agencies experienced a larges loss, with 7,100 fewer employees this year than last year.