by Michael Pakko | May 7, 2020
Initial claims for unemployment insurance in Arkansas remained well above “normal” levels last week, but continue to edge lower. In the week ending May 2, there were 12,436 new claims filed, down from 17,671 (revised) the previous week. For the week ending...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 30, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on the economy, the number of initial unemployment insurance claims remains elevated but has declined sharply from its peak in early April. In the week ending April 25, initial claims in Arkansas were 16,745...
by Michael Pakko | Apr 29, 2020
The latest report on metro area employment shows that Arkansas’ metro areas generally followed the same pattern as the statewide statistics reported on April 17th: sharply higher unemployment and substantial declines in payroll employment. Metro area...
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 | Sep 28, 2017
Unemployment rates in Arkansas metro areas remain lower than a year earlier. Wednesday’s news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that year-over-year changes in unemployment rates show declines in 323 of the nations 388 metropolitan areas, with...
