Arizona Unemployment Up For Third Consecutive Month

Listen:

The summer months often mean a slowdown in business for Arizona. Seasonal residents are gone, and tourists do not brave the 100-degree temperatures that cover much of the state.

That trend often shows up in the state's employment statistics, and this year has been no different.

Data from the Office of Employment and Population Statistics show Arizona's unemployment rate went up for the third straight month in August, and is now at 6.3 percent.

That is after reaching a post-recession low of 5.8 percent in May.

“I think we are in steady moderate growth, and the seasonal pattern will change," said Paul Shannon, labor market director for the state of Arizona.

Those awaiting a drop in unemployment will have to wait out the heat.

"As we start moving into the winter, we’ll start seeing gains in the areas that you would expect,” Shannon said.

Those gains tend to come in areas such as hospitality, retail and tourism.

August's employment report did have one sign of the end of the heat.

The government sector added 32,000 jobs last month, and all of those gains came in state and local education sub-sectors as schools start filling out their staffs for the academic year.