State-level employment data for the end of 2025 came out today. Both the payroll survey and the household survey continue to show employment growth, but the number of unemployed in the household survey has also been rising sharply. In December, the Arkansas unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.2%. The U.S. unemployment rate had previously been reported to have ticked down by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 for December.
The increase in Arkansas’ unemployment rate over the second half of 2025 has been driven by a steady increase in the number of unemployed, which was up 1,621 in December and had risen by 8,285 since June. The number of unemployed topped 60,000 in December for the first time since 2015 (if we ignore the covid spike in 2020). But meanwhile, employment growth has continued. The number of employed was up by 3,541 in December, and had risen by 12,125 since between June and December. The resulting increase in the labor force has kept the rising unemployment from having larger effects on the unemployment rate.
The rising labor force has also resulted in an increase in Arkansas’ labor force participation rate, which ticked up another 0.1 percentage point to 59.0% in December.
Payroll Employment
Data on nonfarm payroll employment also showed an increase in jobs in December, up 1,500 from November (seasonally adjusted data). However, the total for November was revised downward by 1,400, resulting in a net increase of only 100 from October to December. Over the past 12 months, Arkansas employment increased by 15,700 jobs, or by about 1.1%. The slowdown in U.S. payroll employment growth has been more notable, with national job growth up only 0.4% from a year earlier.
The breakdown of Arkansas employment growth from November to December shows mixed changes across industries. Education and Health Services and Leisure & Hospitality Services showed notable increases, while Transportation and Utilities declined. Other sectors showed small changes for the month.
The breakdown of employment growth over the past year shows that the industries experiencing the largest employment gains were Education & Health and Leisure & Hospitality. Retail Trade also showed a large year-over-year increase.
This is the last employment report before annual revisions. The revised data will be released sometime in April (as delays from the federal government shutdown continue to cause delays in the reporting schedule).
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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.