Last week’s July unemployment report showed a slight dip in the state’s jobless rate to 7.4%.
But what can we glean statistically and anecdotally in the Arkansas report?
On his Arkansas Economist blog, Dr. Michael Pakko with UALR’s Institute for Economic Advancement says that there are "encouraging signs of continuing improvement in the Arkansas labor market" in the report. He also noted that the total number of unemployed Arkansans fell below 100,000 for the first time since May 2009.
Pakko contends that after seasonally adjusting raw data, payroll employment in Arkansas grew by 3,600 jobs during the month of July and it has grown by 16,000 jobs since the first of the year.
"Typical summer doldrums aside, the July employment report provides additional evidence that labor markets in Arkansas are steadily improving," said Pakko.
Billy Mountjoy, President of Bryant-based Employment Solutions, provides insight at the street level and confirms the notion that there are more people seeking and gaining jobs.
"We’ve seen about a 51% increase in job placement when comparing last year’s figures," says Mountjoy when analyzing January-July 2010 data and the previous year’s comparable period.
He also says that smaller businesses have embarked on new hiring in 2010. "This time last year they were either laying off or putting everything on hold," said Mountjoy.
"Jobs are available, though not as numerous as seen in 2008, but things are significantly improved from 2009," said Mountjoy, who had an additional observation.
"One thing to note, when the unemployment benefits were extended, we had 3 out of 5 interviews cancel. It would appear some individuals are enjoying the benefits of unemployment when they could be working," he said.