Need a job? Come to Arkansas. Need a job next year? Again, come to Arkansas.
By the time you read this, the governor of this state might be back from abroad. Then again, maybe he'll make a detour to China, India and Brazil to go along with his stops in France, Germany and Israel. Why not? He's probably packed for all weather.
Those in government call these trips Economic Missions--but the rest of us just call it recruiting. And boy, does this governor and his people do it often enough. Which is why the Business section is filled with stories about foreign companies opening plants all around. And part of the reason why, on Saturday, the Business section had this jaw-dropping headline:
State jobless rate falls
to 3.4% in May
Three point four percent! That's full employment, folks. Anybody who wants a job can have one.
But what about that 3.4 percent? Aren't those folks being left behind?
Not really. Anything below unemployment at this level is what the economists call Frictional Unemployment. At all times in all economies, some people will be unemployed as they transition from one job to another. In a healthy economy, people are always changing jobs. And as they give their two weeks' notice and move from Texarkana to El Dorado, or from El Dorado to Texarkana, they'll temporarily be "unemployed." And so are the new graduates from ASU who are living with the parents in West Memphis for a few weeks until they can find an apartment in Little Rock.
It doesn't take an expert on the Beveridge Curve to know that this state is seeing times like never before:
• Last month, 3.4 percent unemployment.
• We're nearly a full point below the national average.
• It was the fifth straight month Arkansas set a record low.
And this doesn't mean that fewer people are looking for work, either. According to the paper, the labor force in Arkansas rose by 7,539 people in May. There are a million-point-three (1,309,035) workers in the state.
And, down in the stats, you'll notice another trend that says good things about Arkansas' economy: Government employment in this state is down by 1,400 jobs in the last year. So we're not using some sort of stimulus package to boost the numbers, fill government offices with bodies, and so put taxpayers on the hook later.
Some folks might try to point to some sector or another, or some stat or another, to tamp down excitement on this front. That's what economists do. There's a reason they call it the dismal science.
But the news is good all around. There's just no way around it.
Three cheers!
Editorial on 06/20/2017