As of January 1, employers across the state are required to pay workers a minimum wage of $7.65, an increase of 30 cents from last year. The increase in pay stems from a 3.8 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index, which shows that consumers are paying more for everyday goods and services.

In 2006, voters approved the “Raise the Arizona Minimum Wage for Working Arizonans Act,” which allows the Industrial Commission of Arizona to enforce a new minimum wage based on fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index.

As we previously reported, Arizona is among nine other states slated to increase minimum wage this month, including: Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

The nation’s GDP increased by 1.8 percent during Q3, as several key economic indicators continued to grow. While this is an improvement over the 1.3 percent growth we saw during Q2, it’s slightly lower than previously-estimated growth of 2 percent.

The main causes of GDP growth during Q3 came from increases in non-residential fixed investments, exports, consumer spending, and federal government spending. However, those increases were slightly offset by declines in private inventory investment and state and local government spending.

According to MarketWatch, experts are predicting that our nation’s economy will do better during Q4, but caution that 2012 is still up in the air:

Growth has averaged a paltry 1.2% rate so far this year — much slower a pace than is usually the case in an economic recovery. Growth rates of 3% or more are more common.

Economists are forecasting stronger growth — about 3.0% on an annualized basis — in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31. Some estimates approach 4%, reflecting expectations of stronger consumer spending.

But economists aren’t very optimistic about growth in 2012 given the continuing European financial crisis, signs of slowing growth in China and, closer to home, fiscal gridlock in Washington.

At the same time, corporate profits increased by $32.5 billion during Q3, which is a huge drop from the $61.2 billion increase we saw during Q2. On the plus side, taxes on corporate income fell by $9.1 billion, resulting in a $41.6 billion increase in after-tax profits.

Private-sector employers added 325,000 jobs during December, which is much better than many experts were predicting. This is a good sign that the national economy will continue to recover as we embark on the new year.

“December’s advance was the largest monthly gain since December 2010, reflecting strong job creation across most industries,” Carlos Rodriguez, president and CEO of ADP, said in a statement. “Small and medium-sized businesses were hiring at a similar pace. Job creation among large employers was also encouraging.”

The service-providing sector accounted for the majority of the job gains, adding 273,000 employees during December. The goods-producing sector added another 52,000 workers.

Although small business continued to hire the most (+148,000), medium businesses were a close second (+140,000). Large businesses added another 37,000 workers.

“The estimate for December suggests that employment accelerated for the fourth consecutive month, consistent with the year-end pick-up in economic growth,” Makroeconomic Advisers Chairman Joel Prakken said. “Today’s report, which is notably above the consensus forecasts both for today’s number and for Friday’s jobs estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, points towards a strengthening labor market.

“Today’s report also suggests that November’s somewhat surprising decline in the unemployment rate might stick and, indeed, that the unemployment rate could fall further in December,” he continued. “Other indicators also signal some firming of labor market conditions, including the downward trend in unemployment claims, upturns in consumer sentiment and confidence influenced by perceptions about the availability of jobs, along with a rising trend in employees voluntarily quitting their positions.”

According to the most recent Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report from the Department of Labor, initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped (-15,000) to 372,000 during the week ending Dec. 31, 2011.

According to a report by Bloomberg:

The decrease in firings indicates employers may be getting more comfortable with their headcounts and their economic outlooks as the year begins. Economists forecast a Labor Department report tomorrow will show hiring picked up and joblessness held below 9 percent in December.

In the week ending December 24, we saw the insured unemployment rate drop to 2.8 percent (-.1 percent), and the number for insured unemployment fall to 3,595,000 (-22,000). The previous week, a total of 2,932,561 people claimed Emergency Unemployment Compensation (+6,426).

Georgia was the only state that saw a decrease in initial claims of more than 1,000 in the week ending December 17, as fewer layoffs in the construction, service, and manufacturing industries caused the state’s claims to fall by 1,105.

During that same week, layoffs in the service industry caused California to see the highest increase in initial claims (+16,490), while Alaska reported the highest insured unemployment rate (6.5 percent).

Blogic was founded in 2011 as part of AZ Disruptors (www.AZDisruptors.com), the first Arizona incubator to offer angel funding to individuals and businesses developing cutting-edge “disruptive” technology. Blogic was created to help companies maintain a consistent visual identity across a website and blog.  As part of the acquisition, Sean Coleman, Founder & CEO of Blogic, and an Arizona State University alumni, will join Jobing’s software engineering team.

“We were very impressed, not only with the technology the company had built, but also with the passion and energy of Sean Coleman,” said Aaron Matos, Founder & CEO of Jobing. “Jobing has a reputation for our technology solutions which provide our clients with the best tools and resources.  Sean’s vision and technology expertise align very well with what we are looking to accomplish here at Jobing; and he is a welcome addition to our tech team.”

“I am incredibly excited to join the Jobing technology team,” said Sean Coleman, Founder & CEO of Blogic. “This acquisition allows me to bring my vision of brand-matching to life, with the support of a very talented group of people.”

About Jobing
Jobing’s mission is to connect local employers and local job seekers through Jobing.com, a local job board community; and Recruiting.com, family of technology products focused around web, mobile, social media, search and video recruiting.  The 3-time Inc. 500 company is a privately held, employee-owned company, funded by investors Great Hill Partners (www.greathillpartners.com) and JMI Equity (www.jmiequity.com).  For more information, visit: http://about.jobing.com.

About Blogic
Blogic is a premier site-matching technology company dedicated to meeting the challenges that often arise from maintaining a consistent visual identity across a website and blog. Blogic can copy a website design exactly, allowing for the instant creation of a seamlessly integrated blog.  Incorporated in the summer of 2011, Blogic was one of two companies incubated as part of AZ Disruptors (www.AZDisruptors.com/). For more information, visit www.blogic.com.

About AZ Disruptors
AZ Disruptors is a Phoenix, Arizona-based start-up incubator for software companies. The first incubator to offer funding in Arizona, AZ Disruptors offers selected companies access to office space, desks, chairs, Internet, mentors, legal advice and $20,000 cash to help build successful software companies.  For more information, visit www.AZDisruptors.com/.

According to a report by The Washington Post:

The falling state rates reflect the brightening jobs picture nationally. The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in November to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009. The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row — the first time that’s happened since 2006, before the Great Recession.

Unemployment

• The national unemployment rate came in at 8.6 percent during November, down from the previous month (9 percent) and the previous year (9.8 percent).
• Over the month, 43 states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates drop, while three states reported rate increases and four states experienced no change.
• North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate during November (3.4 percent), while Nevada saw the highest rate (13 percent).
• Michigan reported the largest monthly decline in unemployment (-.8 percent).
• Over the last year, 45 states experienced a decline in unemployment, while five states saw their rates continue to grow.
• New Mexico recorded the largest yearly decline in unemployment (-2.1 percent).

Employment Situation

• Between October and November, jobs were added in 29 states and the District of Columbia, workers were lost in 19 states, and employment was unchanged in two states.
• New York added the most jobs over the month (+29,500), while Wisconsin lost the most workers (-14,600).
• South Carolina reported the largest monthly percentage increase in employment (+.9 percent), while Alaska saw the largest decline (-.8 percent).
• On a yearly basis, 45 states and the District of Columbia added jobs, while only five states lost workers.
• California added the most jobs between November 2010 and November 2011 (+233,100).
• North Dakota saw the largest yearly percentage increase in employment (+4.5 percent), while Delaware recorded the largest drop (-.8 percent).

Jobs2web features – which allow companies to drive social and mobile recruiting programs across all potential recruiting channels – will be integrated with SuccessFactor’s Business Execution applications, producing a new social recruiting engine.

“It was easy for SuccessFactors to pull the trigger on acquiring Jobs2web, despite an extremely competitive acquisition fight for them, because they have so many powerful assets,” Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors, said in a statement. “First, they’re growing incredibly fast. And they are completely disrupting the way companies can make social networks their friends in recruiting and not a distraction, helping hiring managers find people in ways they never could before.

“Lastly, the analytics dashboards provide quality insights not seen in this industry before,” he continued. “There are 300 million job searches alone on Google each year, that companies don’t know how to get to, with Jobs2web SuccessFactors can help companies turn resumes into candidates, broadcasting their jobs in all social networks.”

Click here to read more about the acquisition and the product features of Jobs2Web and SucessFactors.

AAA is predicting that holiday travel will increase by 1.4 percent this year, as 91.9 million Americans leave home to visit family and friends. At 30 percent of the U.S. population, this would mark the second-highest number of holiday travelers in the last decade.

This is great news for employers in the travel industry, as many types of companies should see increased business over the holidays, from gas stations and rental car companies to airlines and hotel chains.

“It’s a positive sign for the travel industry that so many Americans are planning to travel this holiday season, collectively contributing to the second-highest year-end holiday travel volume in the past 10 years,” Bill Sutherland, vice president of AAA Travel Services, said in a statement. “As our lives get busier, it is so important to create opportunities for the rest and rejuvenation that result from vacation travel and connecting with family and friends, especially during the holidays.”

Some highlights of the report include:

• Holiday travel has increased every year since 2008-2009.
• 59 percent of Americans who plan to travel over the holidays say the economy has either improved or has no impact on their plans, while 41 percent of travelers plan to scale back because of the economy.
• The average American will travel 726 miles this holiday season, with median spend expected to reach $718.
• 83.6 million people plan to travel by car (+2.1 percent); while 5.4 million Americans will fly to their destination (-9.7 percent); and 2.9 million Americans will take a train, bus, or other mode of transportation (+4.2 percent).

State personal income increased by only .1 percent during Q3, which is much slower than the growth we saw during Q2 (+1.1 percent) and Q1 (+2.1 percent) of this year. This is partly due to the fact that inflation also slowed over the three-month period.

Overall, 30 states reported an increase in personal income, while 20 states had falling or unchanging rates. Washington saw the largest income growth (+.6 percent), while West Virginia fared the worst (-.4 percent).

Overall earnings increased by .4 percent during Q3, with notable increases in the administrative services industry (+1.5 percent) and in the healthcare and educational services industry (+1.4 percent).

The information industry saw the biggest decline in earnings (-2.4 percent), mainly because of a two-week strike by telecommunications workers in August and layoffs in other information industries. Washington was the only state that saw a rise in information industry earnings. Government earnings also declined in most states, with the exception of California, New York, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

The survey is predicting that employers will increase hiring by 9 percent during Q1, marking the most promising hiring outlook since 2008. The net employment outlook is higher than the 7 percent increase predicted for Q4 2011 and on par with the 8 percent growth we saw last year.

Some highlights of the report include:

• About 14 percent of employers plan to increase staff levels during Q1, while 9 percent plan to decrease payrolls, 70 percent expect to see no change, and 7 percent are unsure of their hiring plans.
• U.S. employers have had a positive hiring outlook for nine consecutive quarters.
• The number of employers unsure about their hiring plans increased from 3 percent to 7 percent, marking the most significant quarterly increase since 1977 and the highest percentage of uncertain employers since 2005.
• Employers in all four regions are expecting a positive hiring trend next year, with those in the Midwest reporting the strongest growth (+10 percent).
• Employers in 45 states have a positive net employment outlook for Q1.

“Slow, but steady momentum has improved employer confidence, which is likely why more employers are planning to hire in the first quarter,” Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup president of the Americas, said in a statement. “This uptick is encouraging, but the historically high proportion of employers that are unsure of their hiring plans indicates continued uncertainty about the future and ongoing caution when it comes to staffing plans.

“There’s no doubt that employers need more hiring flexibility, but at the same time, they continue to struggle to find talent with mission-critical skills,” Prising said. “On one hand you have CEOs starting and stopping hiring based on market trends, but on the other hand their hiring managers are struggling to find the talent with specific skills. These dynamics, the lack of demand for products and services and the ongoing skills mismatch, profoundly impact hiring decisions. With growing uncertainty, employers rely on contingent labor more and more as they move people in and out of their businesses as demand for their products and services fluctuates.”

Here’s a look at how each industry is expected to fare during the beginning of next year:

Source: Manpower