Arizona Education Jobs Saved by Stimulus
Many people with Arizona education jobs will reap the benefits of federal stimulus funds.
Gov. Jan Brewer recently announced that the State of Arizona has completed divvying up State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to post-secondary educational institutions throughout the state under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Arizona's three state universities received more than $154 million in funding during August, while the state's community colleges received funding during September and October. The funding will help schools avoid having to make budget cuts, and therefore job cuts, and in some cases allow schools to hire new staff members.
"Although the Recovery Act funds for education stabilization do not resolve the state’s budget deficit, they will help to mitigate the funding crisis the state’s educational institutions find themselves in during this very difficult economic crisis," Brewer said. "Protecting education opportunities and advancement is absolutely critical to attracting new jobs and business opportunities to our great state."
Most recently, community colleges in the following counties received funding:
- Maricopa - $15,093,592
- Navajo - $1,304,024
- Yuma/La Paz - $1,311,722
- Coconino - $649,258
- Gila - $175,353
- Pinal - $1,206,787
The federal stimulus funding is welcome, if not necessary, to many higher education institutions. Without the funding, a decrease in state and federal funding would have left several schools with no choice other than cutting jobs.
Even though Arizona's education and health services industry has managed to add jobs on a monthly basis despite the current economic recession, the industry has seen a decrease in employment when compared to last year.
The state's education and health services industry employed 320,700 workers during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 317,900 workers during September, but a .6 percent decrease from last year.
Arizona's economy as a whole finds itself in the same situation, adding jobs on a monthly basis as of late, but at the same time seeing an increase in the state's unemployment.
During October, the state saw its unemployment rate increase from 9.1 percent to 9.3 percent, which is lower than the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent. Arizona had a total non-farm employment of 2,409,000 workers during October, up from 2,406,800 workers during September, but a 6.9 percent decrease from last year.