Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada County's Unemployment Rate Falls

Nevada County's unemployment rate fell almost two full percentage points from March to April.

According to the Arkansas Employment Security Division, the jobless rate for the county in March was 6.5 percent, this dropped to 4.9 percent for April.

These figures also declined for all counties surrounding Nevada County. In fact, the jobless rate fell in 74 of Arkansas' 75 counties. The lone exception was in Ouachita County were a fire resulted in layoffs at a plant.

In Clark County, the numbers dropped from 3.4 percent in March to 2.8 percent in April.

Columbia County's figures showed a decline from 5.9 percent to 5.2 percent for the recording period.

In Hempstead County, the unemployment rate went from 5.4 percent in March to 4.8 percent in April.

Heading to Lafayette County, the numbers went from 8.6 percent in March to April's 7.2 percent.

Pike County dropped from 5.4 percent to 4.9 percent, while Ouachita County, because of layoffs due to the plant fire, rose from 8.2 percent to 8.6 percent.

Checking where counties ranked based on unemployment, Benton County was at the top of the list with an incredible 1.8 percent jobless rate.

The other end of the spectrum saw Desha County with the highest unemployment rate, 12.6 percent, and ranked 75th.

Clark County entered the tally in seventh, while, Nevada County was listed at 39th.

Hempstead County joined in at 42nd, while Pike County was next in 43rd place.

Columbia County came in at 52nd, with Lafayette County ranked 63rd and Ouachita County rated 68th.

There was one county with a jobless figure between 1.0 and 1.9 percent for the period in question.

Seven counties figures into the mix with unemployment rates from 2.0 to 2.9 percent, and a whopping 21 counties were in the 3.0 to 3.9 percent bracket.

There were 18 counties falling in the 4.0 to 4.9 percent division and eight with numbers between 5.0 and 5.9 percent.

Six counties were housed in the 6.0 to 6.9 percent range, while there were also six counties with 7.0 to 7.9 percent unemployment.

Two counties compiled the 8.0 to 8.9 percent slot, with five counties found with jobless figures from 9.0 to 9.9 percent.

There was only one county with an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent, Desha County at 12.6 percent.

Looking at the state's five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA had the lowest jobless rate at 1.9 percent, down from 2.4 percent in March.

Next on the list was Jonesoboro's MSA at 3.0 percent, down from 3.8 percent in March.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA fell to third for the first time in months at 3.2 percent in April. The March figure was 3.7 percent.

The Fort Smith MSA also enjoyed a decline, dropping from 3.9 percent in March to 3.3 percent in April.

Pine Bluff's MSA also had a drop in unemployment going from 7.7 percent to 6.4 percent for the recording period.

Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 4.7 percent in March to 4.4 percent in April.

On the national level, the jobless figures fell to 3.9 percent. This is the first time since January 1970 the unemployment rate has been below 4.0 percent.