Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jobless Rate Tops 5 Percent

BY JOHN MILLER

Nevada County's unemployment rate can be compared to a yo-yo always going up and down depending on the season.

According to the Arkansas Employment Security Division (ESD), the county's jobless rate rose from 4.5 percent in May to 5.3 percent in June.

Much of this can be attributed to students getting out of school for summer vacation and looking for jobs.

All other surrounding counties saw their jobless rates rise from May to June as well.

In Clark County, the figures rose a full percentage point, climbing from 2.6 percent in May to 3.6 percent in June.

Columbia County's numbers jumped from 5.4 percent to 5.8 percent, with Hempstead County's figures going up from 5.1 percent to 5.7 percent during the recording period.

In Lafayette County, the jobless numbers went from 6.4 percent to 7.0 percent.

Ouachita County's figures also rose, but only slightly, changing from 7.8 percent to 7.9 percent.

Pike County, though, saw a significant increase as its unemployment rate skyrocketed from 4.0 percent in May to 5.4 percent in June.

A check of the rankings based on unemployment figures shows Clark County uncharacteristically in 12th place.

Down in 38th place, is Nevada County, with its 5.3 percent figure, just ahead of Pike County in the 39th spot at 5.4 percent.

Hempstead County enters the list in 42nd place, with Columbia County next in 43rd.

Lafayette County is further down on the list in 56th place, while Ouachita County joins in at 63rd.

Benton County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2.4 percent, while Mississippi County found itself at the other end of the spectrum in 75th place with an 11.5 percent figure.

There were five counties registering unemployment numbers from 2.0 to 2.9 percent.

A total of 13 counties fell in the 3.0 to 3.9 percent bracket, while there were 18 housed in the 4.0 to 4.9 percent division.

Ten counties came in with jobless figures from 5.0 to 5.9 percent, with nine others having jobless rates from 6.0 to 6.9 percent.

Eight counties comprised the 7.0 to 7.9 percent slot, with three being found with unemployment figures from 8.0 to 8.9 percent.

Five counties made up the 9.0 to 9.9 percent faction, with two making up the 10.0 to 10.9 percent group.

Two others had unemployment numbers from 11.0 to 11.9 percent.

Overall, there were four counties with double-digit unemployment in June.

The state's five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) were also hit by the rising unemployment bug as all five saw their jobless numbers go up.

Still, the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA turned in a figure of 2.6 percent for June, up from 2.3 percent a month earlier.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA climbed from 2.8 percent in May to 3.3 percent in June.