Arkansas' unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point since the 2008 recession, officials with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said Tuesday.
The St. Louis Fed's quarterly report states the Little Rock zone’s unemployment rate matched the national average at 6.2 percent in the second quarter — a .4-percent drop since April.
However, a portion of businesses surveyed by the St. Louis Fed are "cautiously optimistic" about future economic conditions. Fewer than half said they do not expect conditions to improve in the second half of 2014, the report states.
The Little Rock Zone has a population of 2.5 million people and includes the majority of Arkansas, excluding the northeast part of the state. It encompasses a metropolitan statistical area, which includes cities like Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Texarkana, Pine Bluff and Hot Springs.
Little Rock’s unemployment rate for the city fell to 6 percent, while Fayetteville’s dropped to 5 percent. Although still above the national average, Fort Smith's unemployment did lower to 6.5 percent and Texarkana's to 6.3 percent.
Seventy-two percent of the Little Rock zone’s workforce is located in the metropolitan statistical area. The other 26 percent live in rural or non-metropolitan areas.
The entire report for the Little Rock zone can be viewed here.