The City of South Tucson’s unemployment numbers are more than double those of Pima County and Arizona.
The city’s unemployment rate rose in September to 16 percent which marks six months of consecutive growth dating back to April when the rate was 10.4 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Pima County, the rate was 5.7 percent in September, and Arizona had an average unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.
Historically speaking, the small city has higher unemployment than both of its larger counterparts.
In 2007, the city’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent while the county’s was 3.7 and the state’s was 3.8.
During the past 10 years, the city’s rate has constantly been double that of the county and state.
One possible reason for the larger gap in unemployment numbers between the city and the county is the loss of jobs in construction, which has experienced a loss of 2,500 jobs during the past six months.
The Tucson Metropolitan area reports a loss of nearly 7,000 non-farm related jobs since April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Areas other than construction that have experienced loss include professional and business services with 1,000 jobs lost and information services with 700 jobs lost.
Despite the overall dip in available jobs there was some small growth in the government services and education sectors.
