Fort Smith metro unemployment rate improving

The unemployment rate for the Fort Smith metro area is still high, but it is moving in the right direction, according to figures released Wednesday (June 3) by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The preliminary April unemployment rate for the Fort Smith region decreased to 7% from a March rate of 7.3%. The rates for the previous five months were:
Nov. 2008: 5.1%
Dec. 2008: 6.1%
Jan. 2009: 7.7%
Feb. 2009: 7.7%
March 2009: 7.3%

However, the March rate is 2.8% above the April 2008 unemployment rate of 4.2%. The number of unemployed in the Fort Smith metro area has risen from 5,711 in April 2008 to 9,737 in April 2009, a 70.4% increase.

The April numbers also show that regional manufacturing employment is in seven consecutive months of decline. 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 22,800 in April, down from 25,100 in April 2008.

THE COMPASS REPORT
The metro area unemployment rate was the lowest factor in The Compass report, the only comprehensive economic analysis of the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The overall grade for the first quarter of 2009, based on eight sets of economic data, is a D+. The grade means that relative to the region’s historic economic performance, the first quarter of 2009 saw economic decline. The unemployment rates for the first quarter resulted in an “F” grade, based on the comparison to the first quarters of the previous five years.

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%.

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 138,200 in April, with 9,700 listed as unemployed.

Arkansas’ unemployment rate was 6.5% in April, no change from the March rate, but up significantly over the 4.9% in April 2008.

ARKANSAS METRO AREAS
The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
March 2009: 5%
March 2008: 3.4%

Hot Springs
March 2009: 6%
March 2008: 4.3%

Jonesboro
March 2009: 5.9%
March 2008: 4.2%

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway
March 2009: 5.4%
March 2008: 3.8%

Memphis-West Memphis
March 2009: 9%
March 2008: 5.6%

Pine Bluff
March 2009: 7.9%
March 2008: 6%

Texarkana
March 2009: 5.2%
March 2008: 3.9%

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%