Arkansas' unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent in December, down from 5 percent the month before.
The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services said Tuesday that the decline reflected 3,700 more employed and 2,300 fewer unemployed Arkansans than were reported in November.
The state unemployment rate fell below the U.S. rate, which remained at 5 percent in December.
The Arkansas rate has been on the decline for 7 months, officials said. It was down nearly a full percentage point from December 2014 when the state's unemployment rate stood at 5.7 percent.
The department said in a statement that the number of jobs increased during the period in six industry sectors it tracks: trade, transportation and utilities (2,500 new jobs), retail trade (1,300), manufacturing (1,200), other services (500), education and health services (300) and information (100).
The biggest decline in any sector was government, which had 800 fewer jobs in December 2015 than the month before, the agency reported.
See Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.