Mervin Jebaraj Shares Optimistic Job Growth Projections for Arkansas in 2025

Mervin Jebaraj (File photo)

Mervin Jebaraj is well known for his economic research presentations as the director of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

He also has jokes. At the annual Business Forecast luncheon in Rogers late last month, Jebaraj told the crowd of several hundred people that his forecast for 2025 was an optimistic one.

“I’m an optimistic person, and so my forecasts tend to be optimistic,” Jebaraj said. “My optimism comes from being a long-term fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks. There is not a more optimistic fan group in the country, because every season when football starts, we’re looking forward to basketball season, and then when basketball season comes around, we’re looking forward to baseball, and then it’s next year.

“So we’re always looking forward, just not to the next game.”

Jebaraj did deliver an optimistic job growth forecast. He said Arkansas added close to 25,000 jobs in 2024, much better than the 14,000 in 2023.

The coming year should fall between those two, Jebaraj said, settling on as many as 16,000 jobs expected to be added.

“I expect us to still be better than the growth rate of 2023,” Jebaraj said. “[S]till a very strong growth compared to the previous year for the state as a whole.”