Natural State Fares Better Than Nation on Unemployment Rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Dec. 5 released the worst unemployment figures in 30 years, with a November jobless rate of 6.7 percent.

October numbers in Arkansas, however, fare better than the national average. The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose five-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4 percent in October.

The U.S. jobless rate was 6.5 percent in October, up four-tenths of a percentage point.

Arkansas’ October unemployment rate, at 5.4 percent, is one-tenth of a percentage point less than in October 2007, when it was 5.5 percent. At that time, 75,400 people were out of work. In October 2008, 74,800 people were jobless, the report said.

“While our unemployment rate did increase, there are 16,500 more employed Arkansans than in October 2007,” DWS Communications Director Kimberly Friedman said in a news release. “Arkansas’ unemployment rate is still lower than it was a year ago and is currently more than one percentage point less than the national rate.”

The report said nonfarm payroll jobs rose 400 over the year. Six major industry sectors saw growth, which was mostly offset by a decline in four industries. Employment in one industry remained the same, the report said.

Year over year, employment in key Arkansas job sectors looked like this:

• Educational and health services added 3,700 jobs. Additions in health care and social assistance accounted for about 90 percent of the gain, due partly to the continuing growth within the home health industry.
• Leisure and hospitality added 1,100 jobs. Employment in food services, which added 700 jobs, advanced as restaurants opened around the state.
• Professional and business services reported an increase of 1,000 jobs. Professional-scientific-technical services and management of companies contributed to the gain.
• Manufacturing lost 5,800 jobs. Declines were posted in durable and nondurable goods, as layoffs and closures continued around the state.

Recruiters Still Busy With Job Placements

Al McEwen, president of Management Recruiters of Rogers Inc., said the recruiting industry has seen a gradual slowdown since July or August, but nothing like it was in 2001 after the terror attacks of Sept. 11.

Management Recruiters specializes in mostly placing executives and managers within the manufacturing sector.

“We always see things slow up in manufacturing in the fourth quarter, anyway, because its budget season and during the Holidays,” McEwean said.

“We’re still busy and still doing a lot of searches,” he said. The energy sector is one area that looks like it may be hot next year, he said.

As for layoffs, McEwen said most of the industries he deals with don’t usually lay off their best managers and engineers because it costs too much to replace them in the long term.