http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-903333.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – The seasonally adjusted jobless rate declined by just a tenth of
a point between March and April, to 9.5 percent. But the state
managed to add 19,500 new jobs last month. That the biggest
growth for any April since 2005. And it is more than twice as
many jobs as the state added at this time of the year even before
the recession started. And even the state's troubled construction
industry managed to pick up by 2,200. Rick Van Sickle, a labor
market analyst for the state Department of Commerce said none of
this means the recession is nearing the end. First of all, he
noted that official determination comes from the National Bureau
of Economic Research and usually isn't made until long after the
recession has actually ended. But Van Sickle said even the end of
the recession -- whenever that happens -- won't immediately mean
lower unemployment. He said statistics from prior recessions show
that hiring usually doesn't start in earnest until sometime
later.
(There's a lot of individual people represented by all these job
losses. Their personal recession is going to continue for a long
time. On top of the fact they've lost their job, there's a lot of
people who had to take pay cuts. So they could come out and say
the recession has ended. Personal recessions will continue.)
For Arizona Public Radio this is Howard Fischer.