According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provisional estimates, in July 2003 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Arizona numbered 2,674,200, with approximately 163,800 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 6.1%, compared to the national average of 6.2% for the same period. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1978, the highest unemployment rate recorded was 11.7% in February 1983. The historical low was 3.7% in January 2001. In 2001, an estimated 7.8% of the labor force was employed in construction; 9.5% in manufacturing; 5.4% in transportation, communications, and public utilities; 20.2% in trade; 7.5% in finance, insurance, and real estate; 22.6% in services; 16.4% in government; and 2.6% in agriculture.
Organized labor has a long history in Arizona. A local of the Western Federation of Miners was founded in 1896, and labor was a powerful force at the constitutional convention in 1910. Nevertheless, the state's work force is much less organized than that of the nation as a whole. The US Department of Labor reported that in 2002, 120,000 of Arizona's 2,184,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions. This represented 5.5% of those so employed, down from 5.9% in 2001. The national average is 13.2%. In all, 144,000 workers (6.6%) were represented by unions. In addition to union members, this category includes workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract. Arizona is one of 22 states with a right-to-work law.