New data from the Common Sense Institute’s Arizona Jobs and Labor Force Update shows Arizona added 5,100 non-farm jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, representing a modest 0.16% increase from December. This gain ranked the state 25th highest among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Nationally, the U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in January, with 44 states reporting month-over-month job gains.
However, on a year-over-year basis, Arizona’s labor market weakened significantly. The state lost 15,000 jobs compared to January 2025, marking a stark contrast to the national gain of +0.20%. Arizona ranked 43rd in year-over-year job growth, one of 24 states experiencing annual job losses. This marked the 22nd consecutive month of annual job growth below 2% in Arizona.
Revised data now indicate the state has been experiencing year-over-year job losses since August 2025—the first negative annual reading since September 2024 and the largest percentage decline since March 2021.
Arizona’s manufacturing sector provided a bright spot in January, adding approximately 600 jobs. The state was one of only 20 to add manufacturing jobs that month. However, on an annual basis, manufacturing employment continued to contract, down 0.7% from January 2025, with Arizona among 40 states losing manufacturing jobs over the year.
Unemployment in Arizona edged up slightly to 4.5% in January from a revised 4.4% in December, giving the state the 35th highest unemployment rate nationally. The state’s labor force participation rate held steady at 62%. Nationally, the unemployment rate declined modestly to 4.3% in January and has remained at that level through March 2026.
Sector performance in January varied. The “Other Services” sector led growth, adding 1,300 jobs (+1.3%), though it remains one of Arizona’s smaller supersectors with just 105,000 workers. Construction added 800 jobs month-over-month.
On an annual basis, the Mining and Logging sector continued to outperform, expanding 7.2% since January 2025. Meanwhile, the state’s largest supersector—Trade, Transportation, and Utilities—added only 200 jobs in January. The Information sector posted the weakest annual performance, declining 1.83% year-over-year.
While employment growth has slowed, wage growth in Arizona remained robust at the start of 2026. Average hourly wages rose $0.47 in January, ranking the state 9th nationally for monthly wage growth. Over the past year, Arizona’s average hourly wage increased by $1.10, placing it 29th in the U.S. for annual wage growth. Private Sector workers in Arizona now earn an average of $35.32 per hour, up from $34.22 a year ago.
Nationally, average hourly wages rose 0.35% in January and have continued growing, with the U.S. rate reaching 3.5% year-over-year as of March. Real (inflation-adjusted) wages in Arizona were up 1.2% as of January. Roughly in line with national trends, though they remain down 3.4% since April 2020.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Friday’s strong jobs report smashed expectations and demonstrated that the economy and labor market are far stronger than the mainstream media suggests. The economy added 178,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent. Real wages rose again, increasing average American living standards.
After a rough February distorted by brutal weather across large parts of the country, the labor market has roared back. The naysayers who insisted that blip represented a crumbling economy were wrong, and the March data makes that plain.
Friday’s jobs report follows a strong ADP employment report on Wednesday that showed small businesses created 112,000 private-sector jobs in March. While the employment picture was more nuanced at bigger companies, small businesses remain the engine of the economy.
Thanks to President Donald Trump’s strong border policies, which have stopped the massive influx of the labor force, the nation is, by any measure, at full employment. The Kansas City Fed estimates that the number of jobs needed each month to keep the unemployment rate steady has fallen from around 150,000 to roughly 50,000.
Elevated oil prices are always a threat to small businesses, the labor market, and the broader economy. But the jobs report shows employers recognize today’s high gas prices as short-term pain that doesn’t alter the administration’s domestic pro-energy agenda, which represents a long-term structural shift. Expanded drilling, streamlined permitting, and a commitment to American energy independence mean that today’s prices are a temporary headache, not a permanent condition.
Meanwhile, the federal government workforce continues to fall. Since Trump took office, federal government jobs are down by 12% and at the lowest level since 1966, a huge victory over big government. Every position shed from the federal payroll is a resource freed up for the productive private economy — the part of the economy that actually creates goods, services, and lasting prosperity.
America’s resilient economy and labor market are a direct result of last year’s Republican tax cuts. The restoration of 100 percent immediate expensing — allowing businesses to write off capital investments in full the year they’re made — gives employers a powerful incentive to expand. The permanent 20 percent deduction for small business income and new interest deductions do the same. Together, these provisions are fueling exactly the kind of investment cycle that produces hiring and wage growth.
Guy Berkebile, chairman of Guy Chemical, a manufacturer south of Pittsburgh, explained the situation at an event hosted by Job Creators Network, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, featuring U.S. Rep. Scott Perry this week: “Tax cuts leave us business owners with more money to invest in our employees and in expansion. Immediate expensing helps justify the costs of new projects by reducing the payback time.”
Small businesses like Guy Chemical can help Americans connect the dots between tax cuts and more jobs, higher wages, and a stronger economy.
The mainstream media will continue searching for ways to cloud any positive news. Our job is to look at the data clearly and call it what it is: a strong economy, a resilient labor market, and pro-growth policies that are working.
Alfredo Ortiz is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, CEO of Job Creators Network, author of “The Real Race Revolutionaries,” and co-host of the Main Street Matters podcast.
The U.S. labor market experienced a sharp downturn in February 2026, with nonfarm payroll employment declining by 92,000 jobs, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released March 6. This marked a significant reversal of January’s stronger-than-expected performance and fell well short of economists’ consensus forecasts for modest gains.
The Joint Economic Committee highlighted the figures in its Monthly Employment Update, noting that the decline consisted of -86,000 jobs in the private sector and -6,000 in government.
The headline unemployment rate (U-3) rose 0.1% to 4.4% while the broader U-6 measure—which includes underemployed workers—improved slightly, falling 0.2% to 7.9%. The labor force participation rate dipped 0.1% to 62%, and the employment-to-population ratio decreased to 59.3%.
Significant downward revisions to prior months compounded the weaker outlook. December 2025 was revised to show a net loss of 17,000 jobs (from an initial gain of 45,000), and January 2026 was adjusted down by 4,000 to 126,000 jobs. Combined, these revisions reduced reported employment gains for December and January by 69,000 jobs.
Sector performance in February showed mixed results. Gains were led by financial activities (+10,000 jobs) and other services (+8,000 jobs). Losses were concentrated in private education and health services (-34,000 jobs, influenced by strike activity in health care) and leisure and hospitality (-27,000 jobs).
On a year-over-year basis (February 2025 to February 2026), total nonfarm payroll rose by approximately 156,000 jobs, with strong contributions from private education and health services (+658,000) and leisure and hospitality (+126,000). However, notable declines occurred in federal government (-314,000) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-191,000).
Wage growth remained positive amid the slowdown. For all private non-farm employees, average hourly earnings increased 3.84% year-over-year to $37.32, while average weekly earnings rose 4.14% to $1,280.08. Among production and nonsupervisory employees, hourly earnings grew 3.69% to $32.03, and weekly earnings advanced 4.31% to $1,082.61.
The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data (for December 2025) indicated cooling demand, with nonfarm job openings falling by 386,000 to 6.54 million. Hires rose by 172,000 to 5.29 million, while separations increased by 107,000 to 5.25 million, including modest gains in quits and larger rises in layoffs and discharges.
The data points to emerging softness in the labor market, influenced by temporary factors including the severe winter weather and significant strike activity in health care, though broader indicators like wage growth and a still-low unemployment rate suggest resilience.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity released preliminary employment data for November 2025, showing that Arizona’s economy added 21,300 nonfarm jobs year-over-year on a not-seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis, representing a 0.6% increase compared to November 2024.
This growth was driven primarily by the private sector, which added 28,000 jobs over the year, while government employment declined by 6,700 positions.
Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.3% in November 2025, up from 4.2% in September and 3.9% one year earlier. Over the same period, the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also rose, reaching 4.6%
The state’s seasonally adjusted labor force grew by 27,226 individuals from September to November 2025 and increased by 83,081 individuals (2.2%) year-over-year, reflecting continued population and workforce expansion.
From October to November 2025, Arizona added 17,500 total nonfarm jobs. Key monthly gains occurred in:
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities: +10,600 jobs
Government: +2,400 jobs, led by Local Government Education with +2,200 jobs
Professional and Business Services: +1,600 jobs
Leisure and Hospitality: +1,500 jobs
Other Services: +1,400 jobs
Manufacturing: +1,300 jobs
Information: +1,000 jobs
Losses were reported in Financial Activities (-1,200 jobs) and Construction (-1,100 jobs), with a minor decline in Private Educational Services (-100 jobs). Health Care and Social Assistance showed no change month over month.
Over the 12 months ending in November 2025, the strongest job gains were made by:
Health Care and Social Assistance: +14,500 jobs
Professional and Business Services: +9,000 jobs
Other Services: +4,800 jobs
Construction: +2,100 jobs
Leisure and Hospitality: +1,900 jobs
Natural Resources and Mining: +1,300 jobs
Private Educational Services: +1,200 jobs
Financial Activities: +1,100 jobs
Year-over-year losses occurred in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (-6,700 jobs), Government (-6,700 jobs), and Manufacturing (-1,300 jobs).
Among Arizona’s major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler MSA recorded the largest year-over-year employment gain, adding 78,100 jobs and bringing total employment to 2,801,000.
The Tucson MSA also saw solid growth, with employment increasing by 14,300 jobs, while the Prescott-Prescott Valley MSA added 2,800 jobs over the year. Smaller gains were reported in the Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA (1,900 jobs), Flagstaff (1,300 jobs), and Sierra Vista-Douglas (800 jobs). The Yuma MSA experienced the opposite with a year-over-year decline of 1,500 jobs.
Statewide, Arizona’s total nonfarm employment reached 3,302,200 in November 2025 on a not seasonally adjusted basis, up from 3,280,900 one year earlier.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Friday’s jobs report shows the American labor market is turning a corner. The unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, and average wages grew 40% faster than inflation. Rising real wages are a stark contrast to the Biden administration, where 25% inflation caused an affordability crisis that President Donald Trump and Republicans are digging us out from.
The report also showed that unproductive government jobs have fallen by nearly 300,000 over the past year, reducing a significant drag on the real economy. The number of discouraged workers declined by almost 200,000 last month, and the number of Americans quitting their jobs increased significantly, indicating that workers are increasingly confident they can find a job.
Topline job creation remains mediocre, but hires are a lagging economic indicator. In fact, the labor market is far stronger than this headline number suggests.
Recent economic growth smashed expectations, with GDP rising by more than 4% in the most recent quarter. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model suggests growth will continue above 4%, representing a historic rise in living standards. Holiday spending also exceeded expectations, with Visa and Mastercard announcing growth of more than 4%, revealing a healthy American consumer.
Small businesses, America’s job creation engine, will respond to the strong economy and consumers by expanding and hiring, setting the stage for strong job gains in the months ahead.
According to a new Citizens Bank survey of small businesses, two-thirds of small businesses expect their revenues to increase in the first quarter of this year. And a new JPMorgan Chase survey finds that three-quarters of small businesses anticipate revenue growth.
Fast economic growth and increasing Main Street revenues don’t happen in a vacuum, as many left-wing pundits would have you believe. They are the direct result of good public policy that empowers businessmen, not bureaucrats.
Exhibit A is Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law last July, which cut taxes for entrepreneurs and employees. The bill restored and made permanent 100% immediate expensing for small businesses, encouraging expansion, development, and hiring. It also made permanent the 20% small business tax deduction, allowing more stores to become profitable.
It expanded the standard deduction and child tax deduction and exempted tip and overtime income, giving workers what should be their largest tax refunds in American history this spring. Funds that will help folks overcome Biden’s affordability crisis.
Sadly, every Democrat in Congress voted against these significant middle-class tax cuts and in favor of the biggest tax hike in American history. Republicans need to sell this win to independents and apolitical folks every day from now until the midterms to keep control of Congress.
Mass deportations, the Epstein files, and transgender bathrooms may be the issues that matter most to the MAGA base, but they are not the ones that will get Republicans the 51% coalition needed to win. They will not motivate Martha, three doors down the block, Jorge, in the apartment complex across the street, or David and Michael, the brother duo trying to get their Main Street cafe off the ground.
No matter what the latest America First social media influencer says, preserving and expanding the opportunity economy will always be the winning message the broad conservative coalition needs to overcome the Democrat siren song of “free stuff.”
The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans have notched numerous wins to advance this engine of increased well-being and affordability. Now it’s time to connect the dots for the general public. Big job gains in the months ahead will help drive these victories home.
Alfredo Ortiz is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, CEO of Job Creators Network, author of “The Real Race Revolutionaries,” and co-host of the Main Street Matters podcast.
