As the area's unemployment rate continued to increase, more Phoenix jobs were lost during July.

During that month, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.3 percent to 8.7 percent, which was lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.4 percent. The area hasn't seen its unemployment rate decrease since April, when it went from 7.3 percent to 6.9 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 1,691,200 workers during July, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,711,800 workers during June and a 7.8 percent decrease from last year.

No industries in the Phoenix area managed to add jobs when compared to last year. The information industry was the only one to add jobs on a month-to-month basis, as employment in that industry increased by 200 workers.

The mining and logging industry employed 3,200 workers during July, the same as during June.

As is the case in many places throughout the country, the Phoenix area's construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry employed 103,300 workers during July, down from 105,000 workers during June and a 27.7 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw a decrease in jobs when compared to last year include:

• mining and logging by 15.8 percent
• manufacturing by 8 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 8.1 percent
• information by 4.4 percent
• financial activities by 4.9 percent
• professional and business services by 12.7 percent
• education and health services by 1.1 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 2.3 percent
• other services by 7.2 percent
• government by .8 percent

Labels: Phoenix jobs