by Michael Pakko | Dec 18, 2015
The unemployment rate in Arkansas declined by one-tenth of a percent to 5.0% in November, matching the national average. The press release from the Department of Workforce Services pointed out that the last time the Arkansas unemployment rate was this low was in...
by Michael Pakko | Dec 8, 2015
The latest data on metro area employment and unemployment was mixed. In a previous release, the statewide unemployment rate ticked down by one-tenth of a percent in October, but nonfarm payroll employment was basically flat. Overall, the metro area data show...
by Michael Pakko | Dec 2, 2015
Final data are now available showing that Arkansas Taxable Sales rose sharply in the third quarter of 2015. The basic measure of taxable sales — derived from state sales tax collections — increased by 3.0% from the second quarter to the third (seasonally...
by Michael Pakko | Dec 1, 2015
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released new data on local area personal income for 2014 last week. As shown in the figure and table below, per capita personal income increased in all 8 of the metro areas that include parts of Arkansas, with increases ranging from...
by Michael Pakko | Nov 20, 2015
The Arkansas unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percent in October, to 5.1%. The number of unemployed declined by nearly 1,300, while the number of employed increased by 1,200. After a brief rise in unemployment in the Spring, we’ve seen employment...