State’s jobless rate up 0.1% in August

Arkansas’ unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.5 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

The 3.5 percent rate is still the second lowest for Arkansas since the unemployment rate has been calculated, going back to the 1960s. The lowest rate is 3.4 percent, recorded in May, June and July.

The unemployment rate nationally in August was 4.4 percent.

The rise to a 3.5 percent unemployment rate was not concerning, said Mervin Jebaraj, interim director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Jebaraj said the report for Arkansas showed a moderate monthly improvement in the civilian labor force (the number of people employed and the number of people seeking work) and in employment (the total number of people employed).

The labor force grew by about 3,270 and employment gained about 2,040 from July to August.

The state’s civilian labor force was up by about 35,200 since August last year, rising to 1,377,710.

Even with the slight increase, the state’s unemployment rate is still 0.5 percentage point below the 4.0 percent level in August last

● year, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The August report still had some disappointments, Pakko said.

The main disappointment, Pakko said, was the unexpected decline in nonfarm payroll jobs, which dropped by 2,600 compared with July.

“But it does come on the back of two or three pretty strong months in payroll employment,” Pakko said.

Nonfarm payroll employment had annual growth of 22,800 in May, 25,700 in June and 32,900 in July. It was up 22,500 in August compared with August last year.

“With unemployment at historic lows, it is not surprising to see some ups and downs in the monthly data,” Pakko said.

The number of employed Arkansans for the past year grew by 41,710, and the number of unemployed Arkansans fell by about 6,500.

“The magnitude of the yearover-year employment gains is likely to be reduced when the data are revised early next year, but the direction of the trend remains clearly positive,” Pakko

said.

The labor force participation rate remains low in Arkansas at 59.1 percent, Jebaraj said.

The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population from ages 16 to 64 with jobs or seeking work.

It is still not above 60 percent, Jebaraj said. Almost all states have rates above 60 percent and some are even above 70 percent, he said.

“[Arkansas] still has a lot more room for improvement,” Jebaraj said.

Seven industry sectors reported an increase in jobs from August last year to last month, and four sectors had job losses for the 12-month period.

The educational and health services sector added 6,600 jobs in the past year, followed by the professional and business services sector with 5,100 more jobs and the leisure and hospitality sector with 4,600 jobs.

North Dakota had the lowest August unemployment rate in the country at 2.3 percent, followed by Colorado at 2.4 percent, Hawaii at 2.6 percent, Nebraska at 2.8 percent and Idaho at 2.9 percent.

Alaska had the highest rate at 7.2 percent, followed by New Mexico at 6.3 percent, Kentucky and Ohio at 5.4 percent each and Mississippi at 5.3 percent.