Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Unemployment Down

Nevada County's unemployment rate for March saw a slight decline, according to the Arkansas Employment Security Division.

The figure fell from February's 7.5 percent to 7.4 percent.

Jobless numbers for surrounding counties were mixed, as some rose and others fell. In one case, there was no change.

This case was Clark County, which saw its unemployment rate remain constant at 3.5 percent for the recording period in question.

In Columbia County the figures climbed form 6.9 percent to 7.5 percent, while the jobless numbers in Hempstead County went the other direction, falling from 7.8 percent in February to 7.1 percent in March.

Lafayette County's numbers went up for March, rising from 6.7 percent to 7.2 percent.

In Ouachita County, the figures remained double-digit as they rose from February's 10.5 percent to March's 11.0 percent.

Pike County saw its rate fall slightly, going from 5.0 percent to 4.9 percent.

Looking at where the counties rank according to their unemployment figures, Clark County is second with its 3.5 percent mark.

Next on the list is Pike County in 17th position, while Hempstead County enters the tally in 40th place.

Lafayette County follows in the 41st post, with Nevada County ranked 43rd. Columbia County is 45th, with Ouachita County ranking 71st out of the state's 75 counties.

The lowest unemployment figure in the state belongs to Saline County (3.2 percent), while the highest numbers go to Bradley County, 13.0 percent).

A total of five counties have unemployment numbers ranging from 3.0 to 3.9 percent, with an even dozen falling in the 4.0 to 4.9 percent range.

There are 16 counties housed within the confines of the 5.0 to 5.9 percent jobless rate, while four are entered in the 6.0 to 6.9 percent region.

Nine counties compose the 7.0 to 7.9 percent division, with 10 recording jobless numbers from 8.0 to 8.9 percent.

Eight counties fall into the 9.0 to 9.9 percent bracket, while the double-digit realm contains a total of 10 counties.

Five of these counties have jobless rates from 10.0 to 10.9 percent, with two in the 11.0 to 11.9 percent area. One, Jackson County (12.7 percent), is in the 12.0 to 12.9 percent category, with Bradley County, as previously written, being the lone county with jobless numbers at 13.0 percent.

A check of the state's five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), again shows the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA to have the lowest jobless rate at 3.8 percent, a decline from 3.9 percent a month earlier.

The highest unemployment figures in the MSA rankings still belongs to the Pine Bluff MSA at 8.3 percent, a slight drop from 8.5 percent in February.

Second is the Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA at 4.1 percent, also a 0.1 percent decline.

Then comes the Jonesboro MSA at 4.5 percent, followed by the Fort Smith MSA at 5.4 percent. Both of these areas saw drops of one-tenth of a percentage point.

Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in march, up from the February figure of 5.3 percent.

Nationally, the jobless figure rose from 4.6 percent to 4.7 percent.