Year-over-year Arkansas job growth up 1.9% in January

Arkansas added more than 24,000 jobs between January 2021 and 2022, and the jobless rate fell to 3.2% in January from 4.9% in January 2021, but growth in the state’s labor force remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

The number of employed in Arkansas during January was an estimated 1,292,292, up 24,045 jobs, or 1.9%, compared with January 2021, and above the 1,287,166 in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report posted Monday (March 14). The January numbers are preliminary and subject to revision.

Arkansas’ labor force, the number of people eligible to work, was 1,334,885 in January, up a scant 1,825 compared with January 2021, and above the 1,330,743 in December. However, the labor force has 34,333 fewer participants than the pre-pandemic January 2020.

Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said on March 3 that recent labor data revisions show the state’s labor force issues are still significant.

“Arkansas still has a long way to recover in order to reach an employment-population ratio near pre-pandemic levels – particularly in the revised data. Starting from around 56.5% in late 2019 and early 2020, the employment-population ratio has dropped to 54.4% by the end of 2021,” Pakko wrote.

Arkansas’ employment-population ratio in January was 54.5%, just above the 54% in January 2021, but below the 56.5% in January 2020.

Arkansans without jobs in January totaled 42,593, down from 43,577 in December, and well below the 64,813 in January 2021. The biggest year-over-year sector gains were in Trade, Transportation & Utilities (12,800 more jobs), and Leisure & Hospitality (up 9,800 jobs).

NATIONAL NUMBERS
Unemployment rates were lower in January in 19 states, higher in 2 states and stable in 29 states. Forty-nine states had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier and one state was little changed. The national unemployment rate, 4%, was little changed over the month but was 2.4 percentage points lower than in January 2021.

Nebraska and Utah had the lowest jobless rates in January at 2.2% each. The next lowest rates were in Indiana at 2.4%, and Kansas at 2.6%. The rates in the four states set new series lows, as did the rates in the following six states: Arkansas (3.2%), Georgia (3.2%), Mississippi (4.6%), Montana (2.7%), Oklahoma (2.7%), and West Virginia (4.1%).

JOB SECTOR NUMBERS
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities
January 2022: 264,800
December 2021: 262,700
January 2021: 252,000
The January 2022 level marked a new record for the sector.

Government
January 2022: 209,000
December 2021: 208,900
January 2021: 206,700
Sector employment hit a peak of 224,100 in May 2010.

Education and Health Services
January 2022: 195,000
December 2021: 194,800
January 2021: 194,100
Sector employment set a record of 196,600 in March 2021.

Manufacturing
January 2022: 161,100
December 2021: 159,200
January 2021: 155,100
Manufacturing, once the state’s largest jobs sector, posted record employment of 247,600 in July 1995.

Professional and Business Services
January 2022: 152,700
December 2021: 152,100
January 2021: 144,500
The January number marks a record for the sector.

Leisure and Hospitality
January 2022: 120,600
December 2021: 120,600
January 2021: 110,800
The sector first reached an employment record of 122,900 in January 2019.

Financial Activities
January 2022: 66,200
December 2021: 66,300
January 2021: 65,300
The sector first posted record employment of 66,300 In November 2021.

Construction
January 2022: 55,400
December 2021: 56,100
January 2021: 54,400
The sector reached record employment of 57,700 in February 2006.