State education employment in Phoenix

Hi.

This is a question about a specific data point. I realize a lot goes into these numbers, but I'm being asked by a client about a derivative calculation, so any insight you might have would be helpful.

Here is the detail: I'm looking at state educational employment (employment in industry 539) in the Phoenix MSA over time. There is a big jump in this employment in 2003 and 2004:

2001: 14,940
2002: 30,109
2003: 79,840
2004: 76,902
2005: 14,095
2006: 13,807
2007: 19,232
...
After this, it remains between 19,000 and 26,000 through 2020, falling to 14,940 in 2021.

Can you speak very briefly to the main sources for these numbers (I think the relevant QCEW data are suppressed) and any thoughts on the reason for the jump? I don't need to dive too deeply into this, but am looking for a high-level answer to share with others.

Thanks.