SIERRA VISTA — Although Cochise County is doing slightly better than the national average when it comes to job losses, the county is keeping up with the rest of the state as unemployment rises.
The unemployment rate for Cochise County increased by one-tenth of a percent in October to 6.1, matching the rate for Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce.
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It was the eighth consecutive month in which Arizona has seen a drop in employment compared with the same month the previous year.
Both the county and state are trailing the national average of 6.5 percent unemployment.
Many of the largest employers in the county say that, even with the current economic slowdown, they have so far managed to keep from having to lay off employees.
“So far we’ve had no eliminations of positions related to that,” said Denise Merkel, the interim director of Community Outreach and Public Information with Cochise College.
Though the city of Sierra Vista has not instituted an official hiring freeze, they are finding other ways to reduce their costs, said Communications and Marketing Manager Marie Hansen.
“We have been told that as people leave or retire from their position, they may not be replaced,” Hansen said. This “natural attrition” of employees allows the city to save on wages without serving any pink slips, she said.
“No one is losing their job here. That’s a guarantee from the city manager,” Hansen said.
Other efforts have employees sharing duties that were once taken up by a single person, and if a position that is considered necessary is left open, someone from another department will be transferred into that job, she said.
Public safety officers will still be hired on a regular basis, Hansen said, but any and all other positions are being carefully evaluated before considering any new hires.
The Sierra Vista Regional Health Center, another of the county’s largest employers, has not been forced to make any changes to its hiring methods.
“We have no layoffs, we have no hiring freezes,” said Marie Wurth, vice president for public relations and human resources at the health center.
“We’re not making any adjustments in those areas,” Wurth said. Instead, she said, the center has continued its “prudent, fiscally sound practices” that it has followed in the past.
While Cochise County seems to be fairing this economic storm fairly well, the number of people statewide seeking unemployment benefits has increased dramatically.
“Claims are just going through the roof,” said Pat Harrington, assistant director for employment rehabilitation services with the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
“Our weekly claims are very high,” Harrington said. “They are running more than double, nearly triple, where they were last year.”
Harrington estimated that, based on the average numbers of the first weeks of November, the month will see a total average of 9,233 claims.
Last year, November saw a total of only 3,579 claims.
The result of such a large increase in people seeking unemployment aid has forced the agency to hire new workers.
“We began adding staff,” Harrington said. “We added 78 staff in unemployment benefits, totaling 184 (employees).” The Department of Economic Security is planning on adding even more staff, he said, resulting in more than double the original number of employees dealing with unemployment benefits.
Though the number of claims has been steadily increasing over the year, there was a significant jump during the summer, he said.
In June, Congress passed the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, which extended unemployment benefits to people in every state by up to 13 weeks.
Just last month, as unemployment continued to rise, the House of Representatives voted to continue the benefit extension to the end of the year. The Senate approved the extension on Nov. 24.
Herald/Review reporter Derek Jordan can be reached at 515-4680 or at derek.jordan@svherald.com.
