Jobs report shows Fort Smith metro area still struggling

Fort SmithNews on the Wire

by The City Wire staff ([email protected]) April 29, 2009 4:12 pm 61 views 

The preliminary March unemployment rate for the Fort Smith region decreased to 7.3% from a revised February rate of 7.7%. The preliminary February rate was reported at 7.3% but revised up to 7.7% with the March update released Wednesday (April 29)

However, the March rate is more than 3% above the March 2008 unemployment rate of 4.3%. No other Arkansas metro area reported a year-over-year gain above 3%. Also, the number of unemployed in the Fort Smith metro area has risen from 5,711 in March 2008 to 10,100 in March 2009, a 76.8% increase.

Putting upward pressure on the unemployment rate are the manufacturing job losses in the area. According to the preliminary numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing employment in the Fort Smith metro area has dipped 9.4% in the past 12 months. Regional manufacturing jobs totaled an estimated 23,100 in March, down from 25,500 in March 2008.

The annual average manufacturing employment in the Fort Smith area fell from 31,700 in 1999 to 25,000 in 2008, a decline of more than 21%.

“The way to look at this is that metro areas that have more goods producing jobs, the more that local economy is feeling the national downturn. And that’s what you have going on there (in the Fort Smith region),” said Jeff Collins, an economist with Springdale-based Streetsmart Data.

According to figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the civilian labor force in the Fort Smith metropolitan area (Crawford, Franklin and Sebastian counties in Arkansas, and LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma) was 137,900 in March, with 10,100 listed as unemployed.

Arkansas’ unemployment rate was 6.5% in March, up from 6.4% in February and 4.8% in March 2008.

ARKANSAS METRO AREAS
The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
March 2009: 5.4%
March 2008: 3.5%

Hot Springs
March 2009: 6.4%
March 2008: 4.8%

Jonesboro
March 2009: 6.3%
March 2008: 4.8%

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway
March 2009: 5.5%
March 2008: 4.1%

Memphis-West Memphis
March 2009: 9.1%
March 2008: 6.3%

Pine Bluff
March 2009: 8.3%
March 2008: 6.7%

Texarkana
March 2009: 5.5%
March 2008: 4.2%

FORT SMITH METRO AREA HISTORY
Past annual average employment rates
2007: 5.3%
2006: 4.9%
2005: 4.5%
2004: 5.2%
2003: 5.5%
2002: 5%
2001: 4.2%
2000: 3.7%