Job growth is a key measure of a local economy’s overall performance. Increasing employment tends to drive reduced unemployment and higher income growth. It can also lead to improved prosperity, particularly when the new jobs pay above average wages. In 2015, the Tucson metropolitan area added 2,900 jobs, which translated into 0.8 percent growth. That ranked Tucson last among similar regions in the West. The largest job gains last year were in education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services. Those job gains were partially offset by losses in government, construction, other services, and mining. In better news, preliminary job data suggest improved growth at the end of 2015 and so far in 2016, which is expected to translate into better performance this year.
