LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' unemployment rate changed little in July, rising to 7.4 percent from 7.2 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
The national unemployment rate, reported earlier this month, was 9.4 percent in July.
Arkansas' jobless rate was the 15th-lowest in the country in July but the highest the state has seen in more than 17 years, since February 1992 when it also was at 7.4 percent.
Unemployment in Arkansas has leveled off in the past few months, said Michael Pakko, state economic forecaster and chief economist for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Institute for Economic Advancement. Considering seasonally adjusted figures, Arkansas has lost only 400 jobs since March, Pakko said.
"The job losses you saw in late 2008 and early 2009 seem to have dissipated and stabilized," Pakko said. "There has been little change since March."
In some sectors, employment numbers in the state are stronger than they were in July 2008, Pakko said. Those include the education and health-services sector, government and the "other services" sector.
As high as Arkansas' unemployment rate is, it still is 2 percentage points below the national rate, Pakko said.
"And it's not as bad as other parts of the country," Pakko said.
Arkansas' jobless rate compares well with neighboring states. Oklahoma's unemployment rate in July was 6.5 percent, Louisiana's was 7.4 percent, Texas' was 7.9 percent, Missouri's was 9.3 percent, Mississippi's was 9.7 percent and Tennessee's was 10.7 percent.
Compared with July 2008, there are 8,900 fewer Arkansans in the labor force, which includes the employed and those who are looking for work.
But it is difficult to gauge the reason for the decline in the labor force, Pakko said.
"It could be people leaving jobs for retirement or it could be the unemployed who are discouraged and are not looking for a job any longer," Pakko said.
There was no change in manufacturing employment in July, only the third time in the past year that there has not been a drop in manufacturing jobs. Arkansas' manufacturers have lost almost 84,000 jobs in the past 14 years.
"That's consistent with the relative lack of [layoff] announcements," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. "A couple of months ago it seemed like you read every day in the paper that plants were laying off workers. We really have seen those kinds of broad-based announcements slow down. And that's good news."
Al McEwen, managing partner with Management Recruiters of Arkansas in Rogers, agreed that there seems to be stabilization in manufacturing jobs. Management Recruiters is part of Managing Recruiters International, a 1,000-office global staffing firm that places professional and technical workers, McEwen said.
Most of the businesses Mc-Ewen works with are manufacturers.
In October, "the bottom dropped out" and many of Mc-Ewen's client companies had instituted hiring freezes, he said.
But since April, hiring has picked up, McEwen said, and his firm has been busy since the end of June. Manufacturers he works with in Arkansas and other states have seen increases in orders, smaller inventories and lifted their hiring freezes, McEwen said.
That agrees with what manufacturing indicators are showing, Deck said.
"We're seeing a bit of an inventory cycle correction," Deck said. "Inventories have been drawn down to such very low levels that manufacturers are starting up again to replace them."
McEwen is placing workers with technical manufacturing firms, pharmaceutical companies, the defense industry and alternative energy companies, he said.
Nationally, unemployment rates fell in 17 states and the District of Columbia compared with June. There was no change for seven states and 26 states saw increases in unemployment.
Michigan continued to lead the nation in July with a 15 percent unemployment rate, followed by Rhode Island at 12.7 percent, Nevada at 12.5 percent, and California and Oregon at 11.9 percent each. The rates in California, Nevada and Rhode Island were record highs - as was Georgia's 10.3 percent rate - since the state surveys began in 1976. The District of Columbia and 15 states had unemployment rates above 10 percent.
North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4.2 percent, followed by Nebraska and South Dakota at 4.9 percent each, Utah at 6.0 percent, and Oklahoma, Iowa and Wyoming at 6.5 percent each.
Seven industry sectors in Arkansas registered job losses compared with June, two had increases and two were unchanged.
There were 11,900 government jobs lost, primarily because of seasonal changes related to summer break at public schools, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said.
The educational and health services sector lost 1,500 jobs from June to July, mostly in the health-care and social assistance category.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector also had a loss of 1,500 jobs, with losses reported in all three major subsectors.
Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector was off 1,100 jobs from June to July, with most of the losses in the food-services category because of seasonal factors.
Construction lost 700 jobs, the professional and business-services sector dropped 300 jobs and "other services" had a decline of 100 jobs.
The mining and logging sector and information sector each gained 100 jobs.
Employment in financial activities was unchanged last month.
Information for this article was contributed by Christopher Rugaber of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1, 5 on 08/22/2009