By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/YourWestValley.com
Arizona’s jobless rate ticked up in May for the second month in a row.
But the state official who provides the numbers said it’s too early to tell whether the economic recovery here has stalled.
New figures from the Arizona Department of Administration put the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 5.6 percent. That’s a tenth of a point higher than in April and two-tenths higher than March.
That number was driven largely by the loss of 6,300 private sector jobs between April and May. By contrast, Arizona has typically gained about 400 jobs this month since the end of the recession.
