Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jobless Rate Falls In County

Clark County's unemployment rate dropped slightly from July to August, falling from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent.

Still, though, this wasn't good enough to make it in the top 20 with counties in Arkansas with lower unemployment figures.

In fact, Clark County ranked 24th out of 75 counties, with Benton County atop the list with an almost nonexistent 1.8 percent jobless rate. The highest unemployment figure belonged to Desha County with 10.4 percent of its available workforce needing gainful employment.

The jobless figures dropped in all counties surrounding Clark County as well. According to information from the Arkansas Employment Security Division, unemployment rates fell in 63 counties statewide, rose in eight and were unchanged in four.

In Dallas County, the jobless rate dropped from 6.9 percent to 6.4 percent from July to August.

The numbers in Hot Spring County were better as the unemployment rate dropped a full percentage point from 4.8 percent to 3.8 percent.

The change in Montgomery County was smaller, 3.3 percent to 3.0 percent, while Nevada County's numbers went from 5.4 percent to 4.5 percent for the recording period.

Ouachita County enjoyed a significant decline in unemployment as its rate changed from 8.8 percent in July to 7.7 percent in August.

Pike County saw its figures drop from 4.9 percent to 4.0 percent.

Checking where the counties ranked based on their unemployment, Montgomery County is in 11th place, with Clark County ranked 24th.

Hot Spring County enters the list in 30th place, while Pike County is right behind in 31st.

Nevada County came in 38th, with Dallas County 61st. Ouachita County was ranked 71st.

One county, Benton, had a jobless rate from 1.0 to 1.9 percent.

There were nine counties falling into the 2.0 to 2.9 percent category, with 20 within the confines of 3.0 to 3.9 percent.

An even dozen counties registered unemployment figures from 4.0 to 4.9 percent, while there were 16 counties to be found in the 5.0 to 5.9 percent division.

Nine counties showed jobless rates of 6.0 to 6.9 percent, with four counties registering 7.0 to 7.9 percent sums.

Three counties made up the 8.0 to 8.9 percent bracket, while one fell in the 10.0 to 10.9 percent group.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.

Nationally, though, the figure rose from July's 4.0 percent to 4.1 percent in August.

The state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas showed the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA with the lowest jobless rate once again at 2.1 percent, down from 2.2 percent in July.

Next up was the Fort Smith MSA at 3.2 percent, tied with the Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA. The Fort Smith MSA was 3.5 percent in July, while the Little Rock-North Little Rock report was 3.6 percent for the month.

The Jonesboro MSA had a 3.7 percent figure for August, down from 3.9 percent.

Once again, the Pine Bluff MSA brought up the rear with a 6.8 percent rate. However, this was a solid decline from July, when the figure was 7.3 percent.