Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Unemployment Rate Remains Same

Nevada County's unemployment rate remained the same from November to December 1995.

The jobless rate in the county stood at 6.1 percent, according to information released from the Arkansas Employment Security Division.

This, however, was not the case in surrounding counties, as the figures fluxuated somewhat.

Clark County has the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 3.3 percent. This figure also remained the same from November to December. Columbia County saw the number of its citizens without jobs rise from 5.6 to 5.9 percent in the time period studied.

Hempstead County's rate rose significantly from 6.9 percent to 7.4 percent, while Lafayette County's numbers climbed even higher, from 6.1 percent to 7.4 percent.

Pike County had a 0.5 percent increase in the number of jobless residents, as the figure rose from 4.5 to 5.0 percent.

Ouachita County's figures remained the same at 7.5 percent.

Examining the rankings by unemployment rate, Clark County is sixth with its 3.3 percent.

Pike County comes in at 27th, while Columbia County is 47th. Nevada County is 49th, while Hempstead and Lafayette counties are tied at 62nd. Ouachita County has climbed to 64th.

There are five counties in Arkansas with jobless rates below 3 percent. They are Saline (2.5), Benton (2.6), Washington (2.6), Pulaski (2.8) and Yell (2.9).

Seven counties have unemployment figures from 3.0 to 3.9 percent, while 14 counties fall in the 4.0 to 4.9 range.

There are 17 counties with jobless numbers in the 5.0 to 5.9 bracket, while 11 more fall in the boundaries of 6.0 to 6.9 percent.

The 7.0 to 7.9 division has six counties, while four counties are in the confines of the 8.0 to 8.9 area. Four more counties have jobless numbers of 9.0 to 9.9 percent.

For the first time in three months, two counties have double digit unemployment. Woodruff County's rate is 10.5 percent, while Randolph County's rate soared from 7.3 percent to 14.5 percent.

According to the ESD release, the reason for Woodruff County's increase is due to seasonal layoffs. The Randolph County jump is because of a major plant closing.

However, in spite of these two counties jobless rates, the state's seasonally adjusted rate actually dropped 0.1 percent from 4.6 to 4.5 percent.

Arkansas' unemployment figures are still lower than the national numbers, which show a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.6 percent in the United States.

Looking at the state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Fayetteville-Rogers-Springdale MSA, again, has the lowest jobless figures at 2.6 percent.

And, again, the Pine Bluff MSA is the highest at 5.7 percent.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA numbers are 3 percent, while the Fort Smith MSA shows jobless rates of 5 percent.