Governor Jan Brewer has been touting the “Arizona Comeback” since her state of the state speech earlier this year. Most Arizonans still have no idea what in hell this delusional woman is talking about.
Arizonans are tired of her delusional lies, and angry over the failure of faith based supply-side “trickle down” GOP economics. It is time for a major policy correction in this state. The Arizona Republic reports today, Arizona posts worst job losses in May since 2009:
Arizona employers shed 15,000 jobs in May, the worst showing for that month since 2009.
Government losses, while common in May, were especially heavy and many private-sector employers pulled back as well. Over the past year, Arizona’s job growth has dropped to 1.2 percent, the slowest rate since July 2007, and well below the nation’s 1.8 percent.
Even so, Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 6.9 percent in April to 6.8 percent in May, in part because the jobless rate is based on a separate survey.
“Month after month, I am not seeing the growth I would expect,” said Aruna Murthy, director of economic analysis for the Arizona Office of Employment and Population Statistics. “I am seeing a slowdown here.”
The surprisingly weak showing happened the same month the nation formally returned to the job level it had when the Great Recession technically began in December 2007. In Arizona, however, the job hole remains only half filled.
Over the past 12 months, growth in Arizona has slowed to 31,000 new jobs. Lee McPheters, director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, said that is anemic growth for a state he expected to add 60,000 jobs over a year.
“There’s nothing very encouraging in those numbers,” he said. “This is the weakest we have seen in quite some time.”
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The private sector also recorded 800 lost jobs, an unexpectedly poor showing.
Manufacturing, led by producers of durable goods, led the state’s industrial sectors with 1,600 jobs added in May. It was doubly surprising because the sector is relatively small and because it has been shrinking for years.
But in most other areas of the Arizona economy, May was a month to forget.
Professional and business services shed 3,400 jobs, much of it involving workers in temporary job services.
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The construction industry continued a weak year. The industry shed 200 jobs in May and stands at the same level it had in January, when many economists expected the best year since the recession technically ended five years ago.
“Construction has gone from slow growth to no growth,” McPheters said. “Construction has gone into a slump and that’s a dangerous sign.”
Other sectors were largely flat.
Over the past 12 months, job growth has slowed to 31,000. The five-month job picture for Arizona in 2014 shows a disappointing 1.8 percent growth and the state could come in below 2 percent growth for the all of 2014 if the second half of the year doesn’t improve, Murthy said. It would be the first time in years that full-year job growth was less than 2 percent.
Governor Brewer’s “Arizona Comeback” is a delusion that exists only in her fevered mind. Faith based supply-side “trickle down” GOP economics has been entirely disproved and discredited (if it actually worked, we would be at full employment with a booming economy, and having to attract workers into the state by now). It is time to throw the failed GOP economic policies on the ash-heap of history. In order to do this, you need to vote Tea-Publicans out of office from top to bottom of the ballot.