According to employment statistics released last week, Tucson is no longer in a recession. The region has gained the jobs it had lost between 2007 and 2011. In total, Tucson lost 37,000 jobs during the time period.

An economist who tracks Arizona unemployment numbers, Michael Niemira, commented on the

improvement: “The Tucson employment cycle is now in expansion mode and has shed the moniker of ‘recovery.’”

The nation reached its previous high number in 2014, and Phoenix reached it in 2015.

“Clearly, it has taken the Tucson economy a very long time to recover from the last recession,” said Niemira.

Job Momentum May Slow

The Tucson area showed a 2.3 percent yearly increase in jobs. According to Niemira, the majority of new jobs are being creating by the aerospace industry. However, other industries are helping the upward trend.

“The Phoenix metro historically has grown much faster than Tucson and that trend has clearly continued and is expected to remain so in the future,” he added. 

Niemira predicts that Tucson’s growth will slow, but continue at a healthy pace, around 1.1 percent.