innovate arkansas

Arkansas' unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in December, down two-tenths of a percentage point from November, according to the state Department of Workforce Services.

The December rate includes 105,300 unemployed Arkansans. During the same month last year, there were 107,200 unemployed Arkansans, and the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent.

Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster with the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, called the data "a nice way to end the year" and said it appears the nation is coming "out of the doldrums" experienced in the summer and fall.

"Given the strength of the national employment reports for November and December, it's not surprising to see the unemployment rate dropping in Arkansas as well," he said. "But the magnitude of the declines, including a revised figure for November, is more than I would have anticipated. The drop in the unemployment rate from 8.2 percent in October to 7.7 percent in December is clearly good news. 

"Moreover, it has happened in the context of a recovery in the labor force participation rate. The number of employed has been rising sharply, along with declines in the number of unemployed. Both components of the unemployment rate are now back to their levels from spring of 2011."

The monthly unemployment report, released Tuesday, showed Arkansas' civilian labor force increased by 3,100, a result of 6,300 more employed and 3,200 fewer unemployed Arkansans.

The national jobless rate also dropped two-tenths of a percentage point from 8.7 percent in November,revised from 8.6 percent, to 8.5 percent in December.

"The number of employed Arkansans increased for the fourth consecutive month," DWS Communications Director Kimberly Friedman said in a news release. "This increase in employment has contributed to the unemployment rate's decrease over the last three months."

Some noteworthy statistics from the latest DWS report:

• Non-farm payroll jobs decreased by 4,600 in December.
• Eight major industry sectors in Arkansas lost jobs, led by the 2,600 jobs lost in December in leisure and hospitality.
• Government jobs fell 1,300, and construction lost 1,000 jobs (which DWS called a typical weather-related fluctuation).
• The largest increase took place in trade, transportation and utilities, which saw 2,600 new jobs in December. DWS said most of this gain was a result of seasonal hiring in retail.
• Since December 2010, nine sectors added jobs, led by educational and health services posting the largest increase at 3,500 and followed by government at 3,200.

Earlier this month, Pakko said he wasn't optimistic that jobs would recover fast enough to help the economy. On Tuesday, he told ArkansasBusiness.com the December employment data represented a good start to 2012, but warned that the numbers weren't all good.

"While the results of the household survey were extremely encouraging, today's report was not unambiguously positive," he said. "The independent report on payroll employment showed a decline in the number of jobs in December. It's not unusual to see the two surveys give conflicting signals from month to month, but the apparent weakness in that data series suggests that we might want to temper enthusiasm about the outlook for 2012, at least until we see how the data emerge over the first part of the year."

Also on Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released information showing the West South Central district that includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 7.4 percent for December, the lowest in the South region (8.4 percent).

More Arkansas data is available at Discover.Arkansas.gov.