Arkansas, National Unemployment Rates Intersect At 7.4% (UPDATED)

Arkansas’ jobless rate rose one-tenth of a percent in July to 7.4%, while the U.S. unemployment rate fell two-tenths to 7.4%.

It is the first time since before the recession that state and national unemployment have intersected since April 2008 when both jobless rates stood at 5.0%.

Since that month, the U.S. unemployment rate spiked to as high as 10%, while the state jobless rate only climbed as high as 8.0%. During the recovery years since 2008-2009, Arkansas’ unemployment rate remained lower than the national rate until now.

Arkansas’ civilian labor force declined by 4,800 between June and July leading to the unemployment rise, according to statistics released by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

“Arkansas’ unemployment rate reached 7.4 percent this month, the same rate as in July 2012,” said DWS Program Operations Manager Bernadette Coleman.

In the monthly survey of employers also released by DWS, six major industry sectors posted employment declines, while four sectors scored gains. One industry sector remained the same.

Three sectors – Trade/transportation/utilities, Education/health, and professional/business – all scored major year-over-year gains in employment.

July 2013 vs. July 2012
Mining/Logging -300
Construction -900
Manufacturing -1,600
Trade/Transportation +10,700
Information +200
Financial +200
Professional/Business +2,100
Education/Health +7,000
Hospitality -300
Other -1,800
Government -400

You can access the full report here.

Dr. Michael Pakko, economist with UALR’s Institute for Economic Advancement, rounded up comments regarding the latest unemployment report on his blog, ArkansasEconomist.com.

“The latest report on state-level employment and unemployment suggests ongoing weakness in Arkansas labor markets,” Pakko noted.

“Although the recession did not hit Arkansas as hard as the rest of the country, employment at the national level has shown steady improvement while Arkansas’ employment growth has been irregular and slower, on net,” he added.

Other notes from his analysis included:

• The unemployment rate edged up to 7.4% (although the increase from June’s 7.3% rate was literally a matter of rounding error).
• July’s uptick in the unemployment rate was primarily due to a decline in the number of employed persons (-4,764).
• The number of unemployed was basically unchanged (+37).
• Since January 2012, the Arkansas labor force is down by nearly 40,000 — approximately 2.9%.