By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services | Arizona Daily Star
Arizona’s jobless rate dropped a tenth of a point last month on strong gains in construction employment – gains that may not really be there.
On paper, the state gained 9,800 private-sector jobs in May. Even coupled with expected seasonal losses in public education, that was good enough to move the needle down a bit, to 7.8 percent unemployment.
But 6,200 of those new jobs were in construction, noted Aruna Murthy, director of economic analysis for the Arizona Department of Administration. And something there doesn’t compute, she said.
That’s the highest month-over-month increase ever in construction employment since 1990.
It also does not match other data.
