The Compass Report: September 2011 Numbers by the Wire

Sales tax collections in the counties showed impressive gains during the period — hopefully a good sign of consumer sentiment.

Sebastian County tax collections during August were up almost 9% in the report, with Logan County enjoying an almost 32% increase in tax collections reported during August.

Hospitality tax collections in Fort Smith and Van Buren continue a positive trend. However, area home sales continue to lag 2010, and unemployment remains a problem in the Fort Smith region.

The number of unemployed in the Fort Smith metro area was an estimated 10,607 in September, up from a revised 10,546 in August, and up compared the 10,186 unemployed in September 2010. The number of employed in the metro area during September was 121,626, below the 122,367 employed in the area during August, and down 1.9% compared to September 2010.

Numbers by the Wire — a component of The Compass Report — is a monthly report presented electronically as a two-page PDF on nine key sets of local, state and federal economic data. (For those unable to open a PDF, the report also is included below in jpeg images.)

Funded and managed by The City Wire and presented by Benefit Bank, The Compass Report is a quarterly regional economic report with data collection and analysis handled by Jeff Collins, a nationally known economist based in Springdale and co-founder of Streetsmart Data Services. Cox Communications and the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce also help sponsor the report.

Link here for the September 2011 edition (PDF) of Numbers by the Wire.