Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Unemployment Drops

There was a significant drop in the unemployment rate for Nevada County from October to November.

According to information from the Arkansas Employment Security Division, the jobless rate for the county fell from 7.4 percent in October to an even 6 percent in November.

Most counties Nevada saw declines in their unemployment figures as well, though none as drastic.

Clark County, on the other hand, was one of the few to see its jobless numbers actually rise, though very little. The Clark County figures went from 2.0 to 2.2 percent for the reporting period.

Columbia County's numbers remained unchanged at 6 percent, while Hempstead County's rate fell from 8.1 percent to 7.5 percent.

In Lafayette County, the unemployment figures dropped from 7.3 percent to 6.6 percent.

Ouachita County had a slight decline in its figures, going from 9.8 percent to 9.6 percent, while Pike County's rate fell from 5.4 percent to 5.1 percent.

In looking at how the counties rank according to jobless figures, Clark County remains alone at the top with its 2.2 percent.

Pike County, with its 5.1 percent rate, enters the table at 36th, while Columbia and Nevada counties are tied in 46th with identical 6.0 percent figures.

Hempstead County ranks 59th of Arkansas' 75 counties, while Ouachita County enters the chart in 71st place.

Randolph County, again, drags behind with a 12.9 figure.

Five counties, Clark, Benton, Washington, Saline and Scott, have jobless numbers from 2.0 to 2.9 percent.

Another 10 fall into the 3.0 to 3.9 bracket, while an even 20 counties report unemployment rates from 4.0 to 4.9 percent.

In the 5.1 to 5.9 percent division, there are 10 counties. Nine counties make up the 6.0 to 6.9 category, with 11 counties falling into the 7.0 to 7.9 percent range.

Three counties, Prairie, Monroe and St. Francis, comprise the 8.0 to 8.9 percent division.

Desha, Phillips and Ouachita are the three counties in the 9.0 to 9.9 percent region, while Bradley and Lee counties come in with 10 percent jobless rates.

Jackson County has an 11.8 percent unemployment figure, with Randolph County last with its 12.9 percent number.

Arkansas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, according to the ESD report, dropped 0.3 percent from October to November, making it 5.2 percent. This puts the state below the national jobless figures again, as the U.S. numbers rose two-tenths of a percent to 5.4 percent.

In the state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA again boasts the lowest jobless rate with 2.4 percent.

And, again, the Pine Bluff MSA has the highest number of unemployed citizens with 7.3 percent.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA stands at 3.4 percent, while the Fort Smith MSA is 4.5

percent.