Jobs in mining and oil & gas are showing increases nationwide compared to 3 years ago before the recession hit, while construction and manufacturing are 15-25% below their comparative levels, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal [right].
The paper reports that "Nationwide, there were 216,900 mining jobs in October, excluding oil and natural-gas drilling, up 12,600 from a year ago and just below the pre-recession peak. Natural-gas and oil extraction have added about 10,000 jobs over the past year and are well above their employment levels in December 2007, when the recession began."
Figures were not presented for Arizona but mining salaries are significantly higher than average wages in the state. And at yesterday's SME Arizona conference many companies talked about the number of both temporary and permanent jobs are being created in mining projects across the southern half of the state.