WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update. In August, jobs increased by 162,000 jobs, more than three times expectations of 53,000.
At the same time, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent while the labor force participation rate ticked up by 0.2 percentage points to 61.6 percent. The broadest measure of unemployment, which adds underemployment to unemployment, decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.7 percent.
In July, Arizona added 2,300 net payroll jobs and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent. In the prior month, Arizona added 2,700 net payroll jobs.
Over the past 12 months, Arizona added 23,100 net payroll jobs and the unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points from 4.3 percent.
Nationally, nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, or 0 percent. Arizona is tied for 11th in the nation for percentage gain in nonfarm payroll employment over the past 12 months.
In July, Arizona’s private sector added 1,900 net private payroll jobs, and over the past 12 months it added 29,900 private payroll jobs. In the prior month, Arizona added 2,500 net private payroll jobs.
In July, employment in Arizona fell by 14,715, and over the past 12 months it fell by 108,851.
Arizona’s labor force participation rate fell to 60.1 percent in July from 60.3 percent and ranks 37th in the nation. In the past 12 months, the labor force participation rate has fallen by 2 percentage points
Revised numbers from July show 21,000 more jobs, after showing an initial loss of 23,000 jobs. June’s final revisions show 31,000 jobs gained, down from the initial reporting of 57,000.
From July to August, the best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+62K) and state and local government (+40K). The worst performing sectors were information (-23K) and financial activities (-11K).
From August 2025 to August 2026, the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+539K) and professional and business services (+152K). The worst performing sectors were federal government (-242K) and information (-115K).
Year over year, for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.69 percent while average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.09 percent. For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.61 percent and average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.3 percent.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 89,000 in July. The total number of nonfarm job openings was 7.27 million, and the rate remained increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 percent. The best performing sectors were manufacturing (+79K) and private education and health services (+52K). The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-65K) and leisure and hospitality (-42K).
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