LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ unemployment rate in November fell to 8 percent from 8.2 percent in October, a report from the state said Tuesday.
A particularly positive sign is that the rate fell even as the number of people working or looking for work increased, economists say.
By contrast, when the U.S. unemployment rate fell in November, the nation’s labor force declined, a trend that can indicate that people have given up their job searches.
“This is really the second month we’ve seen what I’d consider a positive report, and all along I’ve had the suspicion that the weakness over the summer and fall months was temporary,” said Michael Pakko, chief economist for the Institute of Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The number of employed people in Arkansas grew by 10,000 last month and is up 4,800 from November 2010. Some of the increase since October was because of seasonal factors, such as stores hiring for Christmas.
Pakko has “fairly good confidence that this is a reversal.” Arkansas has gained back about half the jobs it lost during the recession, he said.
November was the thirdstraight month that the number of employed people in the state increased, noted the Arkansas Workforce Services Department, which issues the jobs report.
The U.S. unemployment rates was 8.6 percent in November, down from 9 percent in October.
Twenty-four states had rates lower than Arkansas for the month, while 23 states and Washington, D.C., had higher rates. New York and Colorado had the same 8 percent rate as Arkansas.
Nevada had the highest unemployment rate at 13 percent, and North Dakota’s 3.4 percent was the lowest.
“We’re seeing a modest recovery in hiring across much of the country,” economist Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C., told Bloomberg News.
Arkansas’ rate was 7.9 percent in November 2010.
Nonfarm payroll jobs in Arkansas grew by 5,300 compared with October. Jobs in retail trade rose by 3,800 but were down by 1,400 from November of last year.
Compared with November 2010, nonfarm payroll jobs of all types were up by 7,400.
Government and service industries grew the most in the 12-month period.
Jobs in government for November were up 4,100 compared with November 2010, mostly at the local level. State jobs were up 500, while federal jobs declined by 900.
The increase in local government jobs is at odds with the national trend of cuts at the local level.
“Several local governments [in Arkansas] have, in fact, gone to the voters and asked for tax increases,” Deck said.
Figures for the professional and business-services sector — which includes lawyers but also lower-paid temporary workers — rose by 3,300 since November 2010. Also rising by 3,300 was the educational and health-services sector, which includes medical workers and employees at private schools, and has been an area of strength since the recession began.
Manufacturing saw the biggest decline compared from a year earlier — down by 4,700 jobs. Nationally, Deck said, manufacturing employment has been up on a year-over-year basis.
Jobs in trade, transportation and utilities fell by 2,000 from a year earlier. Deck said the sector includes a range of jobs from truckers to retail sales workers to some Wal-Mart suppliers.
Pakko said the government will revise its jobs figures early next year for about the past 18 months, and he expects the estimate of nonfarm payroll jobs to be cut by about 10,000 positions for Arkansas. That’s because a more complete, quarterly report from the government that will be used in revising the numbers has shown more weakness in jobs.
Deck said the unemployment rate in Arkansas may well rise in the coming months even if the jobs situation improves. That’s because people will be counted as unemployed and as part of the labor force if they’re confident enough to seek work.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/21/2011