Pinal, state jobless rates up
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — The state’s jobless rate rose in July for the second month in a row.
But the director of the state’s labor market division said Thursday he’s not ready to say that the recovery has stalled.
Paul Shannon put the seasonally adjusted unemployment figure for July at 6.1 percent. That’s up two-tenths of a point from June, which, in turn, was a tenth of a point higher than May.
“It would not surprise me if it went down next month,” Shannon said. But he was hedging his bets that he could be proven wrong.
“We’ll have to see,’’ Shannon said.
Pinal County’s rate was slightly above the state average at 6.9 percent, up from 6.5 percent in June.
