Compass Report: Fort Smith Regional Economy Slips
by February 25, 2011 7:00 pm 62 views
Our content partner, The City Wire, offers its quarterly look into the Fort Smith regional economy and sees a slight decline from the previous quarter.
The fourth quarter 2010 economy in the region saw momentum weaken, primarily because of rising unemployment figures that offset moderate gains in sales tax collections. It also appears that some building permit activity was a positive for the area.
According to The Compass Report, economic conditions in the fourth quarter of 2010 garnered a “C-/D+” grade. The grade means that relative to the region’s historic economic performance, the fourth quarter of 2010 saw no measurable economic improvement compared to the same period in previous years.
However, it reflected a slight improvement over the fourth quarter of 2009. Regional sales tax collections improved.
Employment figures were, frankly, lousy, with the unemployment rate reaching 8.6% in December and non-farm employment falling to 115,500 in December.
You can read more on the subject, including analysis from economist Jeff Collins, at this link. Also, early next week, Talk Business will be releasing some fresh polling information related to the Arkansas economy and consumer attitudes.