Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jobless Rate Falls in Nevada County

Unemployment in Nevada County dropped 0.6 percent from September to October, according to information from the Arkansas Employment Security Division.

This brings the jobless rate in the county down from 6.6 to an even 6 percent.

With few exceptions, the unemployment numbers for surrounding counties also fell for the same time period.

Clark County's rate dropped from 3.3 percent to 2.7 percent. Columbia County went down from 6.3 percent to 5.8 percent. Hempstead County's numbers changes slightly for the better, falling from 7.4 to 7.1 percent for the month of October. Lafayette County saw more of its people go to work as the figure changes from 6.8 to 6 percent. Ouachita County, still with the state's highest unemployment rate, went down from 8.8 to 8 percent. Pike County was the lone exception with its unemployment rate rising from 3.6 percent to 4 percent.

Taking a look at where area counties rank according to their unemployment numbers, Clark County is rated highest at 6th, while Washington County has the lowest rate in Arkansas at 2.3 percent.

Pike County comes in at 22nd, while Columbia County is ranked 55th. Lafayette and Nevada counties are tied at 59th with their 6 percent figures, while Hempstead County is 70th in the state. Once again, Ouachita County is 75th with its 8 percent rate.

Six counties in Arkansas have jobless rates from 2.0 to 2.9 percent. There are 15 counties falling in the 3.0 to 3.9 range, while 19 have unemployment figures from 4.0 to 4.9 percent. Another 17 counties have numbers from 5.0 to 5.9 percent, while 11 counties fall between 6.0 to 6.9 percent. Five counties have jobless rates from 7.0 to 7.9 percent, with Ouachita County the only one with 8 percent unemployment.

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in October, down slightly from September's 5.0 percent. Arkansas' jobless rate is still lower than the national average, which is, after seasonal adjustment, 5.5 percent.

The unemployment figures fell in 39 counties from September to October, while the rates did not change in 13 counties and went up in 23 other counties.

Fortunately, there were no counties reporting jobless figures in double digits.

Checking the state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA had the lowest jobless figures at 2.3 percent. Pine Bluff's MSA was again the highest in the state at 5.8 percent. The figure in the Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA was 3.2 percent, while the Fort Smith MSA reported 4.8 percent unemployment.