Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
State’s jobless rate decreases to 9.5%
Employment picked up in Arkansas in May, following the national trend as the statewide jobless rate dropped to 9.5%, according to statistics released Friday.
Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined from 10.8% in April as employers added 46,378 workers in May, the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services reported.
The state is tracking national employment trends: the U.S. jobless rate fell to 13.3% in May from 14.7% in April.
State officials welcomed the job increases. “This is good news for those that depend upon work for their families and their livelihood,” Gov. Asa Hutchison said Friday in opening his daily covid-19 news conference.
In May, the state’s civilian labor force increased 33,715, a result of 46,378 more employed and 12,663 fewer unemployed Arkansans. Nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 25,900, pushing the number of employed to 1.2 million.
“Reopening the economy last month put over 45,000 Arkansans back to work, and I’m encouraged by the positive effects we’re already seeing,” Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston said Friday.
The 25,900-job increase in the state’s total employment in May is the largest onemonth gain this century, said Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation.
Eight of the state’s 10 major employment sectors posted job gains, led by an increase of 13,400 in the leisure and hospitality industry, which has suffered the most job losses in the coronavirus pandemic. The health care sector added 9,100 jobs.
“Today’s announcement is further evidence that we’ve moved past the worst of the covid-19 virus trough,” Jay Chesshir, president and chief executive of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.
“Increased employment in health care along with the leisure and hospitality sectors is a harbinger for our economy getting back into gear,” he said. “As health care is a primary economic driver of our economy, any continued movement toward normalcy will have a positive impact on overall results.”
Retail, another sector hard-hit by the pandemic, gained 4,600 workers in May. Government lost the most jobs in May, dropping 4,400 workers.
“The decline in the [state] unemployment rate is consistent with the decline we saw on the national level,” said University of Arkansas at Little Rock economist Michael Pakko, who noted that job increases statewide were “unexpectedly strong.”
Despite the May uptick, a year-over-year jobs comparison shows that nonfarm payroll jobs in Arkansas are down by 92,800, and all 10 major industry sectors have posted job losses.
Statistics released Thursday revealed that fewer Arkansans are filing for unemployment benefits. Filings reached 8,914 for the week of June 13, continuing a steady decline from a high of 62,086 the week of April 4.
Benefit filings have been below 10,000 for three consecutive weeks. Still, more than 244,000 Arkansans have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began in mid-March.
“Arkansas’ unemployment rate has been below the national rate for two months in a row now, and there’s been a steady drop in unemployment claims filed each week since they peaked about five weeks ago,” Preston said. “As the economy continues to rebound, we expect these downward trends to continue.”
The state economy has proven more resistant to pandemic-driven job losses than the national economy. Statistics show that although Arkansas has dropped thousands of jobs in all sectors, the declines have not been as steep as on the national level.
“Employment in Arkansas has shown a net decline of 7.6% since February, while the U.S. data show a decline of 12.8%,” Pakko said.
Looking ahead, Federal
Reserve economist Charles Gascon said Friday that the unemployment rate might improve again in June, pointing to economic reports this month that “indicate a modest improvement between May and June” may be in store.
Yet both economists, Pakko and Gascon, noted the May numbers could be adjusted upward as more information flows in during the coming weeks. There is “some uncertainty about the accuracy of the measurements” because of the pandemic, Pakko said. “There is a lot of churning in the labor markets right now.”