Phoenix, AZ – Arizona's jobless rate rose a tenth of a percent in May, to nine point six percent. Five of the eleven industries the state tracks added jobs last month including construction, which gained 18-hundred positions. But Aruna Murthy with the state commerce department says the census was the clear driver in May.
(Without the census, what exactly would be the impact is yet to be seen I think the true impact is when we study, after the August, September months, when the census numbers really decline is when we'll know a true sense of overall, how the private sector is doing.) :17
Murthy says Arizona is following a national trend the majority of new jobs are with the census and, she says otherwise, it's largely been a jobless economic recovery.
For az public radio, I'm mark brodie.