Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Unemployment Rises Slightly

Nevada County saw its unemployment rate rise slightly from October's 6.0 percent to 6.1 percent in November.

These figures come from information from the Arkansas Employment Security Division.

Surrounding counties fluxuated in their jobless stats from October to November as well.

Clark County rose from 2.9 percent to 3.3 percent during the month, while Columbia County fell from 5.8 to 5.6 percent during the same time frame.

Hempstead County experienced a slight drop, from 7.0 to 6.9 percent. Lafayette County, on the other hand, rose from 6.0 to 6.1 percent.

Montgomery County went from 4.7 to 4.9 percent unemployment, while Ouachita County saw a significant drop from 8 percent to 7.5 percent. Pike County's jobless rate climbed a full percentage point, going from 4 to 5 percent.

Checking the rankings, Clark County comes in at eighth with its 3.3 percent rate. Pike County rates 38th, while Columbia County is 52nd. Lafayette and Nevada counties are ranked 56th, while Hempstead County is 62nd. Ouachita County climbed from dead last, or 75th, in October to 67th.

Benton, Saline and Washington counties are the top rated in Arkansas with figures of 2.4 percent.

Jackson and Phillips counties have the highest unemployment rates at 8.3 percent.

There are five counties with jobless numbers from 2.0 to 2.9 percent.

Eleven more have figures from 3.0 to 3.9 percent. Another 21 counties have unemployment rates from 4.0 to 4.9 percent. There were 18 counties registering jobless numbers from 5.0 to 5.9 percent.

Eight counties fell in the 6.0 to 6.9 bracket, while eight more had figures from 7.0 to 7.9 percent. Four counties had tallies from 8.0 to 8.9 percent.

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in November, down from October's 4.9 percent.

Once again, Arkansas' jobless rate was lower than that of the nation. The seasonally adjusted rate for the U.S. as a whole was 5.6 percent.

For the third straight month, there were no counties in the state with double-digit unemployment.

A check of the state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) shows the Fayetteville-Rogers-Springdale MSA at 2.4 percent. The Little Rock-North Little Rock MSA figures were at 3 percent, while Fort Smith's MSA numbers were 4.6 percent. The Pine Bluff MSA was again the highest at 5.3 percent.