Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Unemployment Drops In County

Clark County's unemployment dropped again in May, according to the Arkansas Employment Security Division (ESD).

By the ESD's statistics, the jobless rate fell from 2.9 in April percent to 2.7 in May.

The same could be said for most counties surrounding Clark County. The exceptions were Ouachita and Pike counties, as their jobless numbers remained unchanged.

In Dallas County, the figure dropped from 8.6 percent to 7.3 percent, while the Hot Spring County numbers went from 4.3 percent to 4.1 percent.

Montgomery County also enjoyed a slight decline, going from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent for the recording period.

In Nevada County the fall was greater as the numbers plunged from 5.0 percent to 4.5 percent.

Ouachita County's numbers remained constant at 7.6 percent, while Pike County also stayed the same at 4.5 percent.

With the change, Clark County was ranked sixth in the state in unemployment, while Montgomery County was 21st.

Hot Spring County entered the tally in 29th position.

Nevada County made the list in 35th, tied with Pike County, while Dallas County was rated 63rd.

Ouachita County rounded out the area rankings in 64th.

Benton County had the lowest jobless rate in the state with a 2.1 percent figure, while Woodruff County was at the other end of the list with a 10.6 percent number.

Nine counties enjoyed unemployment rates from 2.0 to 2.9 percent, with 18 counties falling in the 3.0 to 3.9 percent category.

Another 15 counties registered jobless rates from 4.0 to 4.9 percent, while the 5.0 to 5.9 percent division housed 10 counties.

There were also 10 counties with jobless figures from 6.0 to 6.9 percent, and four with numbers in the 7.0 to 7.9 percent range.

Four other counties fell into the 8.0 to 8.9 percent bracket, with two having unemployment rates from 9.0 to 9.9 percent.

There were also two counties in the state with double-digit unemployment, Jackson (10.2 percent) and Woodruff (10.6 percent).

The state's metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) stayed in order once again as the Fayetteville-Rogers-Springdale area had the lowest jobless rate at 2.3 percent, and Pine Bluff's MSA had the highest at 6.6 percent.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA was second at 2.7 percent, with the Jonesboro MSA ranking third at 3.3 percent. Fort Smith's MSA remained in fourth place with a 3.9 percent figure.

Overall, Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent, up from 4.3 percent in April.

The national rate, however, fell from 4.3 percent to 4.2 percent for the period.