Unemployment rate for state in January holds steady at 3.5%

Arkansas’ unemployment rate in January was unchanged from December, remaining at 3.5%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The monthly report, which was based on data from the federal agency and released Monday by the state Department of Workforce Services, put the number of nonfarm payroll jobs in January at 1,269,700, down 17,100. The December unemployment rate was revised from 3.6% to 3.5%.

The joblessness rate in January in Arkansas was 48,066, down from 48,186 for December. The January numbers are subject to revision.

“The revision of statewide civilian labor force calculations shows that Arkansas’ unemployment rates in 2019 were, for the most part, lower than originally estimated,” Susan Price, state Program Operations Manager for the Bureau of Labor Standards, said in a news release. “Updated data indicates that the [unemployment] rate stayed between 3.5% and 3.6% last year, with the January rate unchanged from December 2019.”

Ten major industry sectors posted declines for the month, mostly because of seasonal hiring changes. Retail trade dropped 5,200 jobs. The number of jobs in trade, transportation and utilities dropped 5,400.

Jobs in government inThe

creased to 210,700 in January, up from 210,100 in December.

For the year, job growth was up 0.36%, or 4,400 jobs.

“Arkansas payroll employment is essentially flat in the last year, pending revisions, with a preliminary gain of only 4,400 jobs, less than a half-percent,” said Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation.

Kaza noted total nonfarm payroll jobs numbers for the 12 months: 1,265,300 in January 2019, compared with 1,269,700 in January 2020.

The civilian labor force, excluding the unemployed, was 1,318,224 in January, compared with 1,313,527 in January 2019.

“Steady at 3.5% is a fine reading,” Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, wrote on his website. “Unemployment remains exceptionally low. The underlying numbers looked good as well: The number of unemployed was down 120 and the number employed was up 2,155.

“The interesting news in the report was related to the annual benchmark revision of the nonfarm payroll employment data. Revised data for the past two years indicate that job growth was stronger than previously reported in 2018, but the revised data show nine months of a declining trend during 2019. Only in the last three months of the year did job growth move into positive territory compared to employment in December 2018.”