Little Rock job growth, El Dorado Promise cited in Fed publication

The Little Rock-North Little Rock area is the only metropolitan area in the St. Louis district of the Federal Reserve Bank to have posted positive job growth between October 2007 and October 2008.

The January issue of The Regional Economist, the publication of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, notes in this report: “At a growth rate of 0.03 percent, Little Rock was also the only large MSA in the District to outperform the U.S., which experienced job losses of 0.8 percent. Louisville (–1.3), St. Louis (–0.9) and Memphis (–1.7) all posted lower year-over-year growth rates than the U.S. as a whole.”

The bad news in the report is that the Fort Smith metro area was the only Arkansas metro area in that period to record negative job growth.

Other statistics about Little Rock and metropolitan areas in Arkansas cited in the publication include:

• From October 2007 to October 2008, Little Rock experienced positive job growth in leisure/hospitality services (3.4), information services (1.0), resources/mining/construction (3.0), education (1.7) and government (1.1).

• Little Rock was also the only branch city in the Eighth District to experience job growth in the resources/mining/construction and leisure/hospitality sectors.

• As a state capital, Little Rock employs almost one-fifth (19.8 percent) of its labor force in the government sector, higher than the U.S. (16.4 percent) and higher than the rest of the Eighth District (13 percent). Year-over-year growth of 1.1 percent in the government sector helped to offset job losses in the manufacturing, trade/transportation and financial-services sectors.

• Within the Little Rock Zone, the Texarkana, Ark., area (2.1 percent) and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark., area (0.8 percent) both posted positive year-over-year growth. Growth in Fort Smith, Ark., declined by 0.1.

EL DORADO
The Fed’s profile of El Dorado focuses on the “El Dorado Promise,” the city’s downtown renovation and its recent economic successes. Also noted are the loss of area manufacturing jobs in the past few years.

The El Dorado Promise is a program — funded by El Dorado-based Murphy Oil — that pays portions or all of the college tuition for graduates of the El Dorado public school system.

According to the report:
“Claiborne P. Deming, who retired as Murphy’s president last month, says the Promise was motivated by the company’s desire “to give kids an opportunity to go away and take advantage of their ability.” As a plus, he adds, the company saw it as a potential lure to professionals, who are sometimes difficult for employers to attract to small, rural Southern towns.

“Depending on how long they’ve been attending El Dorado public schools, graduates are promised up to the highest tuition at an Arkansas public university—$3,252 a semester this year. They can spend the money at any two- or four-year, public or private, in-state or out-of-state college or university.

“The offer was an instant hit. Of the high school’s 271 graduates that first year, 224, or 83 percent, went to college, compared with the usual 60 percent. Results were similar in 2008. James Fouse, the school district official who directs the Promise, says it has expanded the college options of many students.”