Arkansas’ jobless rate remains stable during January
by March 10, 2010 10:35 am 55 views
Arkansas’ January preliminary unemployment rate was 7.6%, the same as revised unemployment rates for December and November 2009.
When initially reported by the federal Bureau of Labor, the December rate for Arkansas was 7.7% and the November rate was 7.4%. Arkansas’ unemployment rate in January 2009 was 6.5%.
The U.S. jobless rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point, from 10% in December to 9.7% in January.
The estimated number of employed in Arkansas during January was 1.271 million, up 400 over December. The estimated number of unemployed in Arkansas during January was 105,200, up over the 104,500 unemployed in December.
“Although Arkansas is still feeling the affects of the recession, our rate has only increased two-tenths of a percentage point since July 2009. It is too soon to tell, however, if our unemployment rate is stabilizing,” DWS Communications Director Kimberly Friedman said in a statement.
The January report also shows a continuance in the decline of manufacturing jobs and the increase in government sector jobs in the past decade. In January 2001, the state had 236,100 manufacturing jobs but saw the number dwindles more than 33% to the 157,400 in January 2010. In January 2001, the state had 191,300 government jobs and saw that employment gain 13.6% to 217,400 in January 2010.
YEAR-OVER-YEAR
• Total nonfarm jobs in Arkansas stood at 1.155 million in January, down 2.3% from the 1.183 million in January 2009.
• The number of unemployed was an estimated 105,176 in January, up 17.2% compared to the 89,734 unemployed in January 2009.
• The largest drop occurred in manufacturing, with 16,400 manufacturing jobs lost between January 2009 and January 2010. The 9.4% drop in manufacturing jobs was higher than the 7% drop between 2008 and 2009, and more than double the 3.8% drop between 2007 and 2008.
• The number of government jobs were up January, with roughly 217,400 employed in the sector during January, up 0.9%% over January 2009.
• Another sector that saw job gains in January was education and health services. The sector employed 165,500 in January, up 3.8% over January 2009.