Arkansas' unemployment rate continued a slow decline in February, dropping to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
There were 42,900 more Arkansans employed and 10,300 fewer unemployed Arkansans in February than a year earlier.
The state's unemployment rate was equal to the nation's rate in February.
It was another in a string of "pretty positive" unemployment reports for the state, said Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
"All the underlying indicators are moving in the right direction -- unemployment down, employment up and labor force participation even going up," Pakko said.
Arkansas' unemployment rate is approaching what some economists would consider to be "full employment," Pakko said.
Full employment is the state of the economy in which all eligible people who want to work can find employment at prevailing wage rates.
Full employment is presently estimated to be about 5.4 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Pakko said.
"But that is projected to trend downward toward 5 percent over the next several years as the lingering aftereffects of the recession recede," Pakko said.
The number of nonfarm jobs increased about 2.5 percent in February compared with February last year, an impressive improvement, Pakko said.
In October, Pakko projected that the state would have about a 2 percent growth in nonfarm jobs in 2015.
"I thought that was pretty optimistic," Pakko said.
Excluding government employment, growth in the private sector was up 3 percent in February compared with February last year, said John Shelnutt, the administrator for economic analysis and tax research for the state's Department of Finance and Administration.
And the number of higher-paying jobs -- excluding temporary agencies, retail trade and food services -- rose 2.6 percent from February 2014, Shelnutt said.
Eight of Arkansas' employment sectors saw an increase in jobs compared with February last year, two were down, and one was unchanged.
There were 8,400 jobs added to the leisure and hospitality sector over the year. The trade, transportation and utilities sector grew by 7,200 jobs, and the professional and business services sector gained 4,200 jobs from February 2014.
The construction sector, which was in a slump last year, grew by 3,800 jobs compared with February 2014. It was the fifth consecutive month of seasonally adjusted job growth for construction, Pakko said.
"Construction has seen sluggish growth really since the recession [in 2008 and 2009]," Pakko said.
Construction is considered to be a leading indicator in the economy.
"That's when we look for an uptick in the housing sector as well as in nonresidential projects, commercial projects," Shelnutt said.
Nebraska had the lowest unemployment rate in the country last month at 2.7 percent, followed by North Dakota at 2.9 percent, South Dakota and Utah at 3.4 percent each, and Minnesota at 3.7 percent.
Nevada had the highest unemployment rates at 7.1 percent, followed by Mississippi at 7.0 percent, Louisiana and California at 6.7 percent each and Tennessee and South Carolina at 6.6 percent each.
Business on 03/28/2015