LITTLE ROCK — Private sector jobs in Arkansas increased at the highest rate since the beginning of the recession, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday in an employment survey.
Nonfarm payroll jobs in the state outside government rose by 1.9 percent in October compared with October last year, said John Shelnutt, the administrator for economic analysis and tax research for the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.
“That was a nice rebound,” Shelnutt said, cautioning that the numbers are preliminary and could be revised. “The government sector still is down, both in federal and state government.”
The national recession, considered the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, began in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009.
But the national and state economies still have not fully recovered, especially in the area of jobs. The national unemployment rate has been above 7 percent since December 2008. It was 9.6 percent in October.
The Arkansas unemployment rate inched up one-tenth of a percentage point from September to 7.8 percent in October, the federal agency said Tuesday. Arkansas’ joblessness rate has been about 2 percentage points below the national level for most of the past two years.
Overall, including government, there were 15,400 more nonfarm payroll jobs in Arkansas in October than in the same month last year, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said.
Arkansas had the largest percentage growth in jobs in October in the country, at 1.5percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
August and September were both weak months, with big downturns in employment, said Michael Pakko, state economic forecaster and chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
“But with this new number [in October], we’re back above where we were in July,” Pakko said.
The labor force is increasing because some discouraged workers are returning to the labor market seeking jobs, Shelnutt said.
“It appears we’re coming out of the recession even a little bit more strongly than the nation as a whole,” said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Most of the improvement in jobs happened in rural areas of the state, a change in the trend of job growth occurring in metropolitan areas, Deck said.
“It’s happening on the manufacturing side and also in the smaller business side in some of these rural communities,” Deck said. “The metro areas aren’t seeing a lot of change.”
Some of the biggest improvement statewide in jobs in October was in areas hit hardest by the economic downturn.
Manufacturing jobs increased by 6,200 compared with October last year, a 3.9 percent jump, Shelnutt said. Construction advanced by 2,600 jobs in the past year, a 5 percent gain, Shelnutt said.
Manufacturing and construction consistently lagged other sectors in annual employment change until May, when a turnaround began.
The educational and health services sector, which has grown throughout the recession, was up 4.2 percent or 7,000 jobs in the past year, Shelnutt said.
One major reason for the improvement in jobs was that October 2009 was so weak, Shelnutt said.
Arkansas’ 7.8 percent unemployment rate was the highest since March and April, when the rate also was 7.8 percent. The joblessness rate has wavered from 7 percent to 7.8 percent since March 2009.
Arkansas’ rate still is significantly lower than the national level and ranks as the 17th lowest among the states.
Nationally, North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.8 percent, followed by South Dakota at 4.5 percent, Nebraska at 4.7 percent, New Hampshire at 5.4 percent and Vermont at 5.7 percent.
Nevada had the highest joblessness rate at 14.2 percent, followed by Michigan at 12.8 percent, California at 12.4 percent, Florida at 11.9 percent and Rhode Island at 11.4 percent.
In Arkansas, six sectors added jobs and five sectors lost jobs last month, compared with numbers from October last year.
Besides growth in manufacturing, construction and the educational and services sector, there were also gains in the other services sector, financial activities and the professional and business services sector.
Other services, which includes membership associations as well as personal and laundry services, added 3,000 jobs in the past year.
Financial activities grew by 900 jobs, as did the professional and business services sector.
Government lost 2,600 jobs, with the biggest decline in the state government category, partly caused by the end of temporary jobs related to stimulus funding.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector lost 1,500 jobs, with the largest drop in the transportation, warehousing and utilities category.
Information fell by 500 jobs. The mining and logging sector fell by 300 jobs, as did the leisure and hospitality sector.
Business, Pages 27 on 11/24/2010