Mohave County’s unemployment ranked second highest in the state, according to new state figures.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Lake Havasu City-Kingman Metropolitan Statistical Area jumped nearly one percentage point to 10.6 percent in September from 9.7 percent in August, reported the Arizona Department of Commerce. However, the rate is much higher than the roughly 7.5 percent recorded during the same period last year.
In a pure numbers sense, unemployment is “basically flat,” said Marilyn Hewitt, research statistical analyst with the Arizona Department of Commerce. “That’s not considered significant change. It’s a smaller than normal job increase. In other words, we usually gain more jobs between August and September than we did this year, so it’s slow.”
The Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA still had the second highest unemployment rate for non-agricultural jobs — behind Yuma — out of six metropolitan areas statewide. But local employment officials said they are not seeing huge drops in employment opportunities here.
“Kingman is definitely seeing an increase of new jobs,” said Donna Smith, career and employment specialist for the local dislocated workers program. “We are starting to see some new jobs coming (in Lake Havasu City), but we still are seeing every week new unemployment claims.”
The program partners with the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which distributes state funding for family and unemployment services for income-qualified residents.
Smith said she has noticed a variety of “different types of employers” advertising for employment, and she’s not quite sure why the increase is being seen now.
“I’m just going to keep a positive attitude about it,” she said.
Angelica Garcia, senior staffing manager at SOS Staffing, a temporary and permanent personnel placement company here said the pace was busier two months ago.
“We’ve been staying pretty steady,” Garcia said. “We are working with solid companies.”
The Arizona Department of Commerce reported a 10,600-job increase statewide from August to September, but reports a statewide of unemployment rate 9.1 percent.
The state reports a total of 83,400 county residents employed.
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