Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

County's Unemployment Drops

News for Nevada County on the unemployment front is great.

The figure for October, according to the Arkansas Employment Security Division (ESD) was 4.0 percent, down from September's 4.5 percent numbers.

This good news was enjoyed by counties surrounding Nevada as all but one saw their unemployment rate fall. The one, Pike County, remained unchanged for the recording period.

Clark County saw its figures drop from 2.5 percent in Sept. to 2.2 percent in Oct.

In Columbia County, the numbers fell from 5.0 percent in Sept. to the Oct. rate of 4.3 percent.

Hempstead County's figure went from 4.6 percent to 4.1 percent, while Lafayette County's numbers declined from 5.8 percent to 5.0 percent.

Ouachita County saw its rate drop a full percentage point, from 7.9 percent to 6.9 percent.

In Pike County, the figure remained a steady 3.1 percent.

None of Arkansas's 75 counties reported jobless figures of 10 percent or more. In fact, the highest figure was in Mississippi County at 9.2 percent.

On the other hand, two counties dipped below the 2.0 percent barrier.

Looking at where the counties ranked based on their jobless numbers, Clark County is fifth at 2.2 percent, while Pike County falls in at 18th.

Nevada County climbs the list to 31st, while Hempstead County is near at hand in 34th.

Columbia County enters the tally in 41st, with Lafayette down the road in 54th.

Despite its considerable drop, Ouachita County is ranked 72nd.

Two counties, Benton (1.8 percent) and Carroll (1.9 percent), had jobless figures from 1.0 to 1.9 percent.

A total of 12 counties fell in the 2.0 to 2.9 percent division, with 16 having unemployment rates from 3.0 to 3.9 percent.

A whopping 23 counties were housed in the 4.0 to 4.9 percent bracket, with 14 more in the 5.0 to 5.9 percent region.

Five counties registered jobless figures from 6.0 to 6.9 percent, with one in the 7.0 to 7.9 percent slot, one in the 8.0 to 8.9 percent category and one from 9.0 to 9.9 percent.

A check of the state's five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), again shows the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA with the lowest unemployment at 2.0 percent, down from 2.3 percent.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock and Jonesboro MSAs each reported 2.8 percent unemployment, with Fort Smith next at 3.2 percent.

The Pine Bluff MSA had the highest unemployment rate of the five at 6.3 percent, down from 6.9 percent a month earlier.

Overall, Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to a record low 4.2 percent.

Nationally, the figures were down by the same amount, dropping the jobless rate to 4.1 percent for October.