The monthly employment report for August continued to show healthy labor market conditions for the State of Arkansas. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.3%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 4.2%. After coming back down from a high of 3.7% at the end of 2023, Arkansas unemployment rate in August was slightly lower than it was one year earlier.
Underlying the stable unemployment rate was a small decline in the number of unemployed (-54) and a substantial increase in the total number of employed (+4,116). Household employment has now gone for ten months without a monthly decline, and is up 23,681 from August 2023. The Labor force has shown consistent growth as well—particularly over the past three months.
Recent increases in the labor force have had the effect of raising Arkansas’ labor force participation rate. As of the most recent observation, labor force participation is now at 58.0%—essentially the same as the rate that prevailed during 2019.
Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 2,900 jobs in August. However, the figure for July was revised downward by 1,300 (-3,000, revised) so that the August employment level was basically unchanged from June. Nearly every sector saw employment increases in August, with the notable exceptions of Leisure & Hospitality Services and Other Services. Manufacturing was up for both durable and nondurable goods. After sagging for four months, employment in Construction rebounded with 700 net new jobs in August. Similarly, Professional and Business Services and Education & Health services showed robust increases for the month.
Employment in Leisure and Hospitality services declined by 2,000 jobs in August—the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Nevertheless, having increased sharply in the first three months of the year, total employment in the Leisure & Hospitality sectors is down only 400 jobs since December of 2023. One speculative explanation for this unusual pattern is that firms in the Leisure & Hospitality sectors added staffing in advance of the total solar eclipse event in April 2024, and have since gone back to sustainable employment levels.
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Seasonally adjusted data for Arkansas nonfarm payroll employment, reported in a format consistent with the monthly news release from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, can be found here: Table-Seasonally Adjusted NFPE.