by Michael Pakko | Apr 20, 2020
In Friday’s post covering the March report on Arkansas employment and unemployment, we noted an anomalous implication of the data used to calculate the unemployment rate: With the number of unemployed going up by 18,526 and the number of employed rising slightly...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 17, 2020
(Updated 4:55 P.M., Revised April 18, 2020) The March report on state-level employment and unemployment showed early, initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the survey reference periods for the report predate many business and school closures that occurred...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 8, 2020
In a report released on March 23, AEDI presented a preliminary forecast for the Arkansas economy, taking into account the impact of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to disruption of world supply chains, the decline in consumer spending...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 7, 2020
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released a report this morning on state-level GDP for the fourth quarter of 2019. Arkansas real GDP increased at a 2.4% annual rate, surpassing the national average of 2.1%. Arkansas’ growth rate was the 13th highest in the...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 2, 2020
The latest report on initial claims for unemployment insurance, covering the week ending March 28, came out this morning. Nationwide, initial claims were up 6,648,000, more than double the size of the record-breaking increase from the previous week (which was revised...
