PHOENIX — Arizona’s jobless rate inched up in October as retailers are hiring fewer people for what promises to be a lackluster holiday season.

 New figures Thursday from the state Department of Economic Security show a 3.5 percent unemployment rate. That is up two-tenths of a point from September, though still below the 4.1 percent rate for a year earlier.

 Don Wehbey, the agency’s senior economist, said some of the slippage was expected.

 For example, the state’s beleaguered construction industry shed another 4,100 jobs in October. That’s nearly 19,000 fewer people working in those jobs than October 2006, a drop of more than 7 percent.

 But Wehbey said the real news is how few people retailers are hiring.

 He said that sector of the economy added 1,700 new employees. B contrast, historical trends show retailers should have hired about 4,600 people in the same period.

 Overall, the state added just 5,000 new employees to the workforce.

 Wehbey said consumers appear to be pulling back on holiday spending plans amid fears of job losses as the economy slows. At the same time, he said, they are facing rapidly escalating fuel costs.

 “Typically, what we see this time of year — and didn’t see even last month — is the back-to-school sales,’’ he said. But Wehbey said he has yet to see the expected build-up of workers, particularly in retail trade.

 “We still expect to have a fairly decent season,’’ he said. “But it’s not by any means going to be something like we’ve seen in recent years when we’ve had a very strong, markedly robust economy.’’

 Wehbey said this plays out in particular with big-ticket items.

 The result is that car dealers actually have fewer employees last month than both a month or a year earlier.

 “If people are worried about their mortgage, their rent, their jobs, they’re going to pull back on especially big-ticket items,’’ he said. And Wehbey said people who were willing to overextend themselves in prior years with big purchases like new cars are less willing to do so now.

 The problems are not limited to retail. Wehbey said the state’s manufacturing industry remains “in something of a slump,’’ dropping 300 jobs in October.

 “The only saving grace in the goods-producing industries has really been mining,’’ he said, with the resurgence of the state’s copper industry in the face of increased demand for the metal and rising prices.

 Another 100 employees were added in October. That brings total mining employment up to about 9,300, compared with 7,600 a year earlier.