Arkansas Jobless Rate Dips Again To 6.4%

Arkansas May jobless rate fell two-tenths of a percent from April to 6.4%. It is the eighth consecutive month of a declining unemployment rate and more than a full percentage point below one year ago when May 2013 unemployment stood at 7.5%.

The U.S. jobless rate remained unchanged at 6.3% in May.

A shrinking labor force, however, is driving the lower unemployment figures.

In May 2014, an estimated 1,315,200 Arkansans were working compared to 1,326,100 a year ago. The good news is the number of employed has improved since last May, while the number of unemployed has fallen.

There were 1,231,100 Arkansans working in May 2014 compared to 1,226,400 a year ago. The number of unemployed has dropped from 99,700 last May to 84,100 in the current year.

Economist Greg Kaza, director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation, noted that Arkansas’ labor force is closing the gap on jobs lost during the recession five years ago.

“The addition of 1,800 new Arkansas jobs in May means the state’s labor market has regained nearly 80 percent of payroll employment lost as a result of the Great Recession,” Kaza said. “Today’s release placed total Arkansas employment at 1,198,000 in May, and shows the market is slowly approaching the peak achieved in the previous cycle, 1,209,800 in February 2008.”

A number of economists are uncertain as to all of the factors driving the labor force changes. They have predicted that some workers are retiring due to the Baby Boomer aging workforce. There is also the element of workers giving up looking for work and those who may be moving out-of-state to find jobs.

Kaza also said that the recent employment data shows a migration pattern of jobs from rural parts of the state to more urban areas.

“Economists have noted labor market migration into Arkansas urban counties,” he said. “Employment data released yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 30 of Arkansas’ 75 counties added new jobs from the end of the Great Recession (June 2009) through December.”

He said job gains were concentrated in the urban areas of Benton (+9,718), Washington (+5,244), Craighead (+4,379), Faulkner (+2,210), and Pulaski (+1,686) counties.

In the Monthly Survey of Employers, which is also released with Bureau of Labor Statistics, six industry sectors have seen job gains in the past year, while four have declined and one remains unchanged.

Mining & Logging – Unchanged
Construction +1,500
Manufacturing +1,900
Trade/Transportation +4,800
Information -400
Financial -100
Professional/Business -200
Education/Health +2,700
Leisure/Hospitality +3,000
Other +600
Government -300