PHOENIX — High gasoline prices and the state’s housing slump are having a ripple effect on Arizona’s employment picture.

The state’s jobless rate rose three-tenths of a point in July, to 5.1 percent. A year earlier the seasonally adjusted unemployment figure was just 3.7 percent.

Since last year, the state has lost 41,700 jobs. Overall, the number of people employed in Arizona has dropped by 128,000 since employment levels peaked in December 2006.

Overall, there were 168,400 people out of work and looking for jobs last month, compared to 153,900 in June and 122,900 a year earlier.

The two major metropolitan areas also posted similar increases, though the figures for the Flagstaff area remained flat.

Dennis Doby, senior director of research administration for the state Department of Commerce, said Arizona employment generally drops in July. But he said the loss of 3,900 jobs in retail employment in just one month is unusually high.

“The issue here, I believe, is related to the weakening of the economy,” he said.

Some of that, Doby said, stems from the problem that started in the housing slowdown and the construction industry and then spread to retailers as Arizonans overall have less money to spend.

And then there’s the increasing cost of buying gasoline which leaves less cash for everything else.

“Consumers are changing their expenditures and purchasing different items in the households,” Doby continued.

Doby said Arizonans seem to be shifting their buying patterns, with the result that some “discount retailers” are still doing well.

That construction industry — the root of many of the problems — shows no sign of recovery. It lost another 3,000 jobs in July, putting construction employment 34,300 below a year earlier, and 54,900 less than its most recent peak in June 2006.

Doby said he expects the state jobless rate to continue to rise for at least the next few months, though he declined to say how high it will get.