Small Business Week celebrated the 592,000 small businesses in Arizona that in August helped lower the state’s unemployment rate by more than 4%, down to 5.9%.

By adding almost 80,000 jobs, the state’s unemployment rate fell lower than the overall U.S. rate of 8.4%. The 30,400 private sector jobs – many of them in small businesses – was 12,200 more jobs than the 10-year average for the month, the Office of Gov. Doug Ducey reported.

Small businesses in Arizona make up more than 99% of all businesses in the state and employ 1.1 million people. In 2019 these businesses added another 44,000 new jobs to the state’s economy. A bit less than half – 485,000 – of the state’s small businesses are self-employed individuals.

More than 43,600 women-owned companies are based in Arizona, Census data shows.

With all the activity, Arizona’s economy ranked sixth in the nation by 24/7 Wall Street. That report also recorded the state’s employment growth success as the fourth highest 5-year annualized growth rate through June 2020, Ducey’s office reported.